Four Chinese citizens kidnapped by rebel forces in Colombia more than a year ago and released on Wednesday are scheduled to return to China soon.

The Associated Press reported that the four, three oil company engineers and their translator, would leave Colombia on Friday. However, the date has not been confirmed by the Chinese embassy.

At the airport in Bogota, Chinese Ambassador to Colombia Wang Xiaoyuan shakes hands with one of the four Chinese citizens who was released from captivity on Wednesday. The four were kidnapped by rebel forces in Colombia more than a year ago. Wang said no ransom was paid for the men's release. [Provided by Xinhua News Agency]

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China expressed its gratitude on Friday to the Colombian government and all parties involved in helping rescue the four, who were kidnapped by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

She also confirmed the four will return home as soon as possible.

Chinese Ambassador to Colombia Wang Xiaoyuan told reporters in Bogota that no ransom was paid for the men’s release. One photograph released through the website of the Chinese embassy showed one man, bearded and with long hair, shaking hands with Wang at Bogota airport.

The men were flown to Bogota, the Colombian capital, on a plane chartered by the Chinese embassy.

Wang said they would fly home to China on Friday.

The four were employed by British company Emerald Energy, part of the China-based Sinochem Group. They were seized on June 8, 2011. Colombian officials said they had no doubt that FARC was behind the kidnappings.

Colonel Carlos Vargas, police chief in the southern Colombian state of Caqueta, said the four were released in good shape in a rural area of San Vicente del Caguan, a FARC bastion.

The hostages were turned over on Wednesday night to the International Committee of the Red Cross by unidentified men dressed in civilian clothes, the committee’s delegation in Colombia said.

Authorities identified the freed men as Tang Guofu, 28, Zhao Hongwei, 36, Jian Mingfu, 46, and Jiang Shan, 24. They said Jiang was the translator.

The rebels announced in February that they were halting all kidnappings and insisted they held no more captives.

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon accused the rebels of kidnapping the four Chinese.

Pinzon accused the FARC of being “mendacious and traitorous”, saying, “They have no respect for the Colombian people or the international community, who they compulsively deceive.”

The rebels and the Colombian government are in the midst of peace talks to end five decades of armed conflict that have claimed about 200,000 lives, displaced many more and caused millions in material losses.

XINHUA―AP―CHINA DAILY