Missing Russian chopper pilot found released in Sudan: official

MOSCOW, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The pilot of a Russian helicopter who went missing in Sudan on Monday has been freed, said Russian president's special representative for Sudan on Thursday.

"The helicopter captain (Yevgeny Mostovshchikov) who went missing in Sudan on July 26 and was captured has been released and is now at the UN mission's office," said Mikhail Margelov as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Earlier in the day the Russian Foreign Ministry said the Mi-8 chopper, belonging to Russian airliner UTair, was en route from Al Fashir in North Darfur to Abeche in Chad on Monday afternoon with a group of Darfur insurgents, and stopped in Aborjo of South Darfur to pick up a second group of militants.

The militants were being taken to Doha in Qatar for talks with Sudanese government officials, said the ministry.

The aircraft on Tuesday has safely returned to its base in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, carrying three out of four crew members, according to UTair.

The chopper is working in Sudan under contract with the United Nations to serve the joint UN-African Union mission in Darfur ( UNAMID), which took over the peacekeeping task in Darfur from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) on Dec. 31, 2008.

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