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Chinese laborers on West Caicos
West Caicos island

Caribbean: Remaining Israeli captives freed by Chinese laborers

Four Israeli nationals held hostage on West Caicos island by disgruntled Chinese laborers freed after company agrees to pay ransom; several of those freed decide to stay on to oversee construction

The four remaining Israeli nationals held hostage by Chinese laborers on the island of West Caicos were released early Saturday following negotiations conducted by representatives of the Ashtrom Engineering and Construction firm with the captors.

 

The Chinese laborers agreed to release the Israelis after reaching an agreement with the Ashtrom representatives.

 

A group of nine othe Israelis who had been held captive by the laborers were released Thursday night.

 

Representatives for Ashtrom confirmed that several of the original dozen Israeli hostages decided to stay on the island after being released.

 

"All of the Israelis were freed," the company said. "Some of them stayed on the island because of work requirements, but there is nothing preventing any of the Israelis fro leaving the island. There are many Chinese laborers waiting on the island for technical or logistical solutions to their problems, and they must be taken care of – regardless of the kidnapping crisis that was resolved today."

 

The affair began in the Caribbean several days ago and was first reported by Ynet on Thursday. Since then, talks were held to secure the Israeli nationals' release.

 

All of the Israelis are employees of Ashtrom, which employed the 300 Chinese laborers for a large tourism project. The venture, however, was put on hold due to the collapse of an American bank.

 


Marina where Israelis were being held

 

In exchange for the hostages the laborers demanded the money promised to them by the Chinese manpower company that hired them for the project. A representative from Ashtrom told Ynet that the company decided to pay the laborers the full amount demanded.

 

According to one of the Israeli project managers, every Chinese employee invested $15,000 in order to take part in the work. When the project went under, the Israelis offered the Chinese their salary and travel fare back to China, but the workers also demanded a return of their original $15,000 fee.

 

West Caicos, an isolated island accessible only via a 40-minute boat ride from the central island in the archipelago, has no police or security forces, which made it easy for the Chinese workers to take control of the single marina and hold the Israelis against their will.

 

Anat Shalev contributed to this report

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.18.08, 11:12
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