Libya releases West German geologists

July 14, 1980

Six West German geologists held captive in Libya since March returned home over the weekend, ending more than four months in captivity. The six, all researchers at the Free University of West Berlin, were exploring for groundwater in the mountainous desert area where the borders of the Sudan, Egypt , and Libya meet. they were seized by Libyan soldiers when some of the geologists apparently lost their way in territory bordering Libya in northwest Sudan.