Nine of the 15 Israeli building contractors taken hostage earlier this week in the Caribbean island chain of the Turks and Caicos have been released.
The release occurred shortly after police arrived on the isolated island of West Caicos, where the Israeli firm Ashtrom had been working on a large resort project.
More than 300 Chinese laborers working on the project took their Israeli employers hostage after being informed that they were unlikely to receive their promised pay and were going to be deported from the Caribbean.
The kidnappers are demanding their promised wages, which have not been paid because of Ashtrom's sudden financial troubles connected to the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank in New York, as well as funds to cover their travel from and back to China.