Austrian hostages freed after months in Sahara

Two Austrian hostages held for months by Islamic militants in the Sahara have been freed and are now in the hands of Malian authorities, the Austrian and Malian governments said yesterday.

Andrea Kloiber, then 43, and Wolfgang Ebner, then 51, disappeared in February while on holiday in Tunisia and are believed to have been held by al Qaeda's North African wing in a remote part of Mali deep in the Sahara.

"Special envoy Anton Prohaska told me today that Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloiber were set free by their captors last night after 252 days," Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said in a statement. "They are both under the protection of Mali's army and are on the way to the capital Bamako," she said.

A plane was heading to Bamako to fly the pair back home, Ms Plassnik said.