Five Chinese telecom workers who were kidnapped by Nigerian gunmen were released safely in the country's southern oil city of Port Harcourt on the evening of Wednesday, January 17, 2007. [Photo: Xinhua]

Five kidnapped Chinese telecom workers in Nigeria were released safely on Jan. 17 (local time), Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday.

"After 13 days, the five compatriots are finally released," said Wang Lei, head of China's rescue team.

The five workers were declared by doctors to be in good health. They would arrive at the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday morning.

Unidentified armed men kidnapped the Chinese workers in Rivers State of southern Nigeria early on Jan. 5.

According to Wang, the armed men broke into the residence of six Chinese workers, who worked for Teleken Engineering, a telecommunication company based in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

One of the workers hid under a table and avoided being taken hostage.

The Chinese telecom company was involved in the Nigerian rural telephone project which, when completed and put into operation, will improve telecommunications in rural areas in Nigeria, the most populous African country with a population of over 140 million.

The Foreign Ministry said the Communist Party of China and state leaders were extremely concerned for the kidnapped workers.

President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao ordered the foreign ministry and Chinese embassy and consulate in Nigeria to do everything possible to rescue the kidnapped workers.

The Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Commerce and Chinese embassy in Nigeria immediately began to work for the safe release of the hostages.

A doctor gives a physical examination to one of the freed Chinese workers on the evening of Wednesday, January 17, 2007. The doctors declared the five workers were in good health. [Photo: Xinhua]

All five hostages are from Sichuan Province. Two are interpreters from the provincial capital Chengdu and three are technicians from the less developed cities of Meishan and Neijiang, according to the provincial commerce department.

"These workers are here to help improve local telecommunication services and we hope the Nigerian side take concrete measures to ensure their safety," Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Xu Jianguo said after the kidnapping.

The Nigerian side also responded quickly. President Olusegun Obasanjo directed the Nigerian government and police to fully support to the Chinese team.

"The Chinese government appreciates support and assistance of parties in Nigeria," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

"We are happy with this result which was achieved after arduous efforts," he said.

Rivers State is an oil-rich region, where militant groups have in the past attacked oil facilities and kidnapped oil workers, but this was the first time Chinese workers were kidnapped.

Also on Thursday, Nigeria's militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), released one of the three Italian hostages abducted by the militant group on Dec. 7, 2006.

Editor: Yan