ROME – Six Bulgarian helicopter crew members assisting international aid efforts in Sudan and South Sudan were released on Sunday after being held by a rebel group for a week, a United Nations agency said.
The crew was forced to make an emergency landing on Jan. 23 as it was flying over a remote area of Sudan’s South Kordofan state, the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
They were held by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army – North, which agree to release them after talks involving the governments of South Sudan and Sudan, the WFP said.
It added that the New Sudan Women’s League also claimed to have had a role in the affair.
The Bulgarians were delivered safely to a WFP office in Yida, a South Sudanese refugee camp near the border with Sudan, and were airlifted later Sunday to South Sudan’s capital Juba, the Rome-based UN agency said. (dpa/NAN)