Freed
Hostage Decides to Stay in Iraq
One of the Russian employees of Interenergoservis who was released Monday in Baghdad after being held hostage for seven days by an armed Iraqi group has said he will stay in Iraq to finish his work for the company, the Itar-Tass news agency reported, citing company director Alexander Abramov. 109 Russians are set to return home from Iraq on Tuesday, after an Emergency Ministry plane that was to carry them was delayed for a day Monday. The Emergency Ministry was reportedly waiting for the two Russian hostages to be released before the flight embarked. They were released only on Monday evening. One of the two freed hostages, Andrei Mescheryakov, decided to stay because he has to finish work on all the projects on time, the news agency quoted Abramov as saying. According to Abramov, the other Russian, kidnapped together with Mescheryakov on May 10, said he wished to leave Iraq because he has a pregnant wife at home and he cannot keep her worried, Abramov was quoted as saying. From: http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/05/18/hostage.shtml
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