FIVE British hostages kidnapped in Ethiopia were today recovering at the British embassy after being released.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the group had been handed over to the authorities in neighbouring Eritrea and were understood to be "broadly" in good health.
The five embassy officials based in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, including First Secretary Peter Rudge, were snatched on March 1.
The others were administrative support worker Jonathan Ireland; members of the Department for International Development, Malcolm Smart and Laure Beaufils, a French national; and Rosanna Moore, wife of the head of the British Council in Addis Ababa.
Mrs Moore's husband Michael said: "I'm just so overwhelmed I am almost in tears."
The group were seized with 13 Ethiopians in the Afar Depression region.
The Foreign Office said the freed hostages were recovering at the British Embassy in Eritrean capital Asmara but, as yet, there was no timetable for their return to the UK.
Mrs Beckett added she was concerned at the lack of definite news of the kidnapped Ethiopians.
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