Libya confirms release of 3 Turkish engineers

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI

Libya’s UN-backed Presidential Council has confirmed the release of three Turkish nationals after 233 days in captivity in the southwestern town of Ubari.

In a statement on Sunday, the council said the three had left the Ubari airport and were en route to the capital Tripoli, from where they will travel back home to Turkey.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, for his part, said the three Turks had arrived in Turkey after being freed in a process he described as "difficult and precise”.

"They were freed in an intensive, precise and difficult process and they arrived home this morning and met with their families," Yildirim told reporters after casting his vote in the western province of Izmir.

Turkish prime ministerial sources earlier said Osman Emre Yaykin, Tugrul Can Kapubagli, and Sertac Karan, all engineers working for Turkish construction firm Enka, had been freed.

The engineers, who had been kidnapped in Ubari in November, were released from captivity after intensified efforts in cooperation with Libyan authorities, said the sources.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim reportedly conveyed the information to the employees’ families over the phone.