A Perthshire man whose brother died in the Algerian hostage crisis has criticised British authorities for a lack of official information.
Three British nationals are known to have died in the four-day siege at the In Amenas gas facility, which ended on Saturday, and three more are feared dead.
One of those killed was Kenneth Whiteside, a 59-year-old from Glenrothes, who lived in Johannesburg with his wife and two daughters.
His brother, Bob Whiteside, told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One programme the family learnt of Mr Whiteside’s death on Facebook.
It was not until after Bob’s daughter found a message on the site that police confirmed Mr Whiteside had been killed.
Bob, who lives in Crieff, said: “We know now what’s happened to Kenny but we actually had to find out for ourselves.
“We were not given any official information and it was through Facebook, of all things, that we found out of Kenny’s demise.
“It was my daughter who found it on Facebook, a message from an Algerian co-worker.
“The police came last night and informed us that what was on Facebook was true, that Kenny had been … he was executed.”
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