The six Bulgarian aid workers, who were held captive in Sudan since January 26, have been released.

The six Bulgarian citizens were detained by Sudanese rebels after their helicopter made an emergency landing.

The helicopter, which was operating under a contract for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), was conducting a flight from Rumbek in South Sudan to Khartoum in Sudan.

The crew was captured by members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) on January 26 while carrying out an emergency landing in the city of Kaduqli.

Although the helicopter had permissions to enter the airspace of both Sudan and South Sudan, it went into a zone controlled by the insurgents.

The announcement about their release was made Sunday by Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry and was confirmed by Georgi Spasov, board chairman of Heli Air, the operator of the aircraft.

Heli Air representatives, as cited by dnevnik.bg, made clear that they had 8 other aircraft involved in humanitarian missions in Africa.