Two French tourists rescued from militants who held them hostage in the African nation of Burkina Faso thanked the soldiers who “lost their lives to free us from this hell.”

“All our thoughts go out to the families of the soldiers and to the soldiers,” said Laurent Lassimouillas, one of the hostages, the BBC reported.

Lassimouillas and Patrick Picque, both music teachers, were kidnapped May 1 while on safari in Pendjari National Park in northern Benin, on the border with Burkina Faso.

The raid to rescue them by French special forces also turned up an American woman and a South Korean woman, who were freed, but have not yet been publicly identified. The two women had been in the kidnappers’ hands for 28 days.

French special forces soldiers Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello died during the raid. Four kidnappers were also killed.

Lassimouillas and Picque were traveling in an area the French government advises its citizens to avoid. Their Beninese driver and guide were killed by the kidnappers.