Four kidnapped workers escape from captors in southern Philippines: police

The four U.S. aid workers seized by their bodyguards escaped from their captors late Thursday night in the southern Philippine island of Sulu, the police said on Friday.

Soldiers in the area found the four shortly after they escaped, said Joel Goltiao, regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

"They escaped from their captors Thursday night. They chanced upon soldiers patrolling the area and were brought to a nearby facility for a medical checkup," Goltiao was quoted by dzBB radio as saying.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces information chief Bartolome Bacarro said in Manila that the four - Engineer Romeo Rivera, Reynaldo Rubio, Larry Bautista and driver Isidro Amaramo were released at malaun village in Indanan town in Sulu about 7 a.m.

Bacarro said the release was "a result of military and police pursuit operations and negotiations conducted by local government units."

The military also said no ransom was paid for the release of the victims.

The four were seized by six of their bodyguards in Parang town after inspecting a U.S.-funded road project near Bilid village on Tuesday.

Rivera is a program manager working for the United States Agency for International Development-Growth with Equity in Mindanao, while Rubio and Bautista are engineers from the Manila- based Terra Zyme Chemicals.

Source: Xinhua