Aid worker released in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines, July 12 (UPI) -- The last of three kidnapped Red Cross staff members was released Sunday after 179 days as a hostage in the southern Philippines, authorities said.

Eugenio Vagni was exhausted but doing well, said Jean-Daniel Tauxe, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Philippines.

"The ICRC is relieved and happy that Mr. Vagni will soon be back with his family and friends, who have been living a painful nightmare for almost six months and cannot wait to see him return home," Tauxe said in a statement.

Vagni, an Italian, and two other Red Cross workers, Andreas Notter and Mary Jean Lacaba, were kidnapped Jan. 15 by Abu Sayyaf separatists in Patikul, Sulu. Notter, a Swiss national, and Lacaba, a Filipini, were freed in April.

Abu Sayyaf is a militant Islamist group classified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida.

The Red Cross has been working in the Philippines since 1982, providing assistance to displaced people and assessing the needs and condition of detainees, Tauxe said.