A journalist from the Medway Towns has been held by an extreme Shia Islamic group while reporting in the Middle East.

Matthew Kynaston was covering a story in a sensitive area of Lebanon when he was detained by members of Hezbollah, who seized his passport and phone.

His worried family learned of the drama on Facebook from a work colleague yesterday morning.

The 32-year-old has since been handed over to the Lebanese authorities for questioning and has messaged his sister Claire to reassure her he is OK, but details are still sketchy into what happened to him.

She said: "At first I panicked and thought that was it. Matthew loves his job and often takes on controversial issues.

"But it was a fast turnover, about four hours, and when we knew the embassy were involved, stress levels dropped."

The former Rochester Math School pupil has been in the Lebanon for about 18 months.

Last August he covered the massive ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut port which caused more than 200 deaths.

After getting a degree in marketing he went travelling to Australia and Nepal.

Claire, a 34-year-old company director, added: "He loves his job and will be staying out there and won't be coming back.

"We have spoken to his editor and the authorities and hopefully he will be released soon.

"I don't know what conditions he was held in by Hezbollah."

"He loves his job and will be staying out there and won't be coming back..."

At the time Matthew had been covering a fuel shortage story for the Lebanese news outlet NOW.

Hezbollah literally means "Party of Allah and is the most powerful political party in Middle Eastern nation but is accused of promoting terrorism by neighbouring Israel.

His mother Jackie, who lives in Birchington-on-Sea, dad Nigel who works in Kuwait and brother Ben, 29, have been kept updated.

Nigel was head teacher at St Andrew's School, Rochester, from 2000 to 2004.

Read more: All the latest news from Medway