Kidnapped Thais in Nigeria freed, evacuation mapped out for Thais in Egypt

BANGKOK, August 17 (TNA) - Four Thai workers--who were kidnapped on August 9 in southern Nigeria--have been freed by their abductors, while evacuation plans have been mapped out for Thai nationals in violence-plagued Egypt. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul told journalists of the updates on Saturday, saying that he talked to one of the four Thai workers in Nigeria over a telephone earlier in the day and was informed that they were not taken for ransom but was, rather, a business conflict between owners of fish farms. Surapong quoted the Thai worker as reporting that he and the other three Thais are workers of a fish farm in Buguma area and they were abducted while they were on their way to work on that day. According to the deputy premier, the four kidnapped Thais were given proper care by their abductors and they were later safely released, after the business conflict was settled, and the Thai Ambassador to Nigeria then took them to temporarily stay at the residence of the governor of Rivers State. The deputy prime minister acknowledged that the four Thai workers do not want to return to Thailand and he plans to, thus, visit them during his trip to Nigeria next week. Touching on current political unrest in Egypt, the deputy prime minister noted that he had discussed the updated situation with the Thai Ambassador in Cairo and was told that Thai nationals there remain safe and have been provided food by the Thai Embassy to ease their hardships. So far, the deputy premier maintained, none of the Thai nationals, including students, want to return home but if the situation worsened, they would be evacuated by either Royal Thai Air Force planes, or chartered flights to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, before flying home via flights of Thai Airways International (THAI), the national flag carrier. (TNA)