A Perth doctor and his wife, abducted by suspected Islamist extremists in West Africa, have "dedicated their lives" to helping people, according to a family spokesperson.
Ken Elliot and his wife Jocelyn are believed to have been abducted following an attack on the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou on Friday that killed 28 people.
Dicko Seydou, is a friend of the Eliot’s and is behind a social media campaign calling for their release.
"Many people are calling him 'le docteur des pauvres' - French meaning "the doctor for poor people," It means, even though you don't have enough moneyyou can go there and you can get medicine.”
Nigel Brennan was kidnapped and held hostage for 15 months in Somalia and says the Elliots are probably dealing with a range of emotions.
"Probably shock and disbelief.. 'Is this happening is this dream? Am I going to wake up?'" he told SBS News.
Dr Ken Elliott and his wife Jocelyn run the Centre Medico-Chirurgicale de Djibo. Source: YouTube
"I think the fact they've got each other will be of great benefit to them."
And he says statistics on kidnapping incidents may offer some relief for the Elliot’s relatives.
“Something like 96 per cent of people come out alive, as long as there’s a negotiation," he said.
"Very few people die in captivity.”
The West Australian couple, in their 80s, moved to Burkina Faso in 1972 to set up the clinic in the town of Djibo in the country's north.
The whereabouts of the couple are still unknown, with no reason given for their abduction, says the family spokesperson.
"Recent news from the country indicates an alleged abduction of Ken and Jocelyn on Friday night," the spokesperson said in a statement released through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
"Their commitment to the local people is reflected in the fact that they have continued there with only a few holidays since 1972.
"They are held in high esteem by the local people."
Leland Davis, a former nursing student who worked with the couple at their 120 bed facility in 2012, praised the couple and their medical work in a tribute posted to social media on Sunday.
"They are the most amazing people I've ever met," the former University of West Florida student said.
"My heart goes out to them."
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Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore confirmed on Sunday that two Australians had been kidnapped near the border of Mali.
The 28 casualties are believed to be from 18 countries, while around 50 civilians were wounded in the attack.
The couple both grew up in the WA country, with Dr Elliot leaving school at 15 to work on his family's farm.
He graduated from university in 1963 before spending two years at Fremantle Hospital as well as a locum with the Royal Flying Doctor Service - based out of Kalgoorlie, in WA's goldfield region.
Dr Elliot performed 150 surgical operations a month in the Djibo hospital he designed and built himself, according to a 2013 Global Business Services incorporated newsletter.
Dr Elliot, the sole surgeon at the clinic, said the need for modern medicine was enormous in the West African region in a GBSI interview about the clinic.
"Our great thrust is surgery because that is, in our opinion, is lacking throughout the country and throughout the region of West Africa," he said.
Mr Brennan said he supported the Australian government policy against paying kidnapping ransoms.
"If you start paying ransoms you start to create an industry for your own citizens," he said.
