All 86 foreign and Liberian hostages were freed in Liberia late last night, according to aid agencies and reports in London. They included four Britons, a Norwegian and an Italian, as well as 60 or more Liberians.
The reports came after the British Foreign Office Minister, Mr Geoff Hoon, said the four Britons who had been kidnapped in Liberia were released unharmed late yesterday along with the other abducted western aid workers.
Mr Hoon said the four Britons were released unharmed. The three men and one woman were allowed to cross the border to freedom in neighbouring Guinea late last night British time, and were met by Mr Patrick O'Brien, the British Charge d'Affaires from Dakara who had travelled to Guinea.
Mr Peter Colenso (28), from Surrey, Ms Sara Nam (30), a midwife from Carmarthen, west Wales, Dr Mike Roe (33), from London, and Mr David Heed (26), from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, had been taken prisoner on Wednesday night. Their captors moved them to the border yesterday, but their crossing was delayed for several hours by armed men, believed to be guards.
However, reports early this morning said they were on their way to the town of Macenta, where they will recover from their ordeal in a compound used by aid agencies and charities.
Ms Nam, Dr Roe and Mr Heed had been working for British-based charity Merlin, helping to rehabilitate hospitals and clinics destroyed in Liberia's long civil war. Mr Colenso was employed by the New York International Rescue Committee (IRC).
A spokeswoman for Merlin said the three working for them were in good health. The four Britons, along with a Norwegian man and an Italian woman were kidnapped on Wednesday in a raid on a compound close to the Guinea and Sierra Leone borders.
It is not known what demands were made by the captors, or how the release was negotiated. The situation was confused by the presence of the group of about 60 people, mainly Liberians, also waiting to cross at the border.
The British Foreign Office has changed its travel advice today to warn all travellers to leave northwest Liberia immediately following the kidnappings. The kidnappings were the latest in a series of incidents which have seen Britons seized in Sierra Leone and Nigeria.