BUCHAREST, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Romanian Foreign Ministry on Friday evening confirmed the release of the Romanian citizen who was taken hostage in Algeria.
According to a press release of the ministry, the Romanian citizen, who was in the In Amenas gas plant, managed to contact the Romanian diplomatic mission through a mobile phone during the dramatic events and received action instructions, an aspect that made it possible to save his life.
The citizen is currently in the custody of Romania's embassy in Algiers and is in good health, the release said.
On Thursday, the ministry created a crisis cell in the Romanian diplomacy after the Algerian authorities confirmed that Romania was one of the countries whose citizens had been taken hostage.
President Traian Basescu was informed as far back as Wednesday evening of the situation in Algeria and was in permanent touch with the crisis cell, according to the Presidency.
Al-Qaida linked militants took dozens of foreign nationals hostage Wednesday night at a gas plant in the southern Algerian desert.
The hostage-takers said they were retaliating against the French military intervention against rebels in neighboring Mali.
Sanitation worker, environmental protector in city
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