Two Europeans hostages, kidnapped nine months ago, have been released and were flown to Malta last yesterday before heading home to their respective countries.
Austrian Alexander Haas and Serb Babic Radoslav Srja, both of whom worked with Argus Security for the Italian oil and gas company Eni, were said to have been seized west of Tripoli nine months ago by a Misratan militia.
Their freedom was secured in part by Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and followed a meeting between him and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade last Saturday. Confirming this, a Maltese government statement said the two were released as a result of collaboration between the Maltese, Libyan, Austrian and Serbian authorities.
Muscat met Srja while visiting Vienna today.
Retired German minister Bernd Schmidbauer, who acted as government coordinator with German intelligence in the 1990s and secured the release of a number of hostages, is also reported to have been involved in securing the men’s release.
It is not clear if a ransom was paid.
