A Chinese worker who had been kidnapped by unknown persons in an oil-field neighboring the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur and southern Sudan was safely released Saturday, the Chinese Embassy in Sudan said.

An official in the Chinese embassy told Xinhua that Sudanese security authorities, after learning the kidnapping event, took measures to save the Chinese worker, adding that the worker came back to his working site within less than 24 hours after the kidnapping.

He noted that the Sudanese authorities were making efforts to find out the identities of the kidnappers.

Meanwhile, Khartoum's Al Sahafa daily reported Saturday morning that unidentified group on Friday abducted a Chinese worker working for an oil company in the South Kordofan State.

"Unidentified group abducted a Chinese worker and led him to unknown area. The security authorities are continuing their contacts to specify the location of the abductors," the paper quoted Ismail Bushara, a local official in Kordofan State, as saying.

He added that until late Friday they could not identify the abductors, noting that all the native administrations in the area were involved to identify the group responsible for the abduction.

The paper further quoted "government sources" as saying that the area witnessed last week activities by a number of members of Haiban tribe named as "Haiban Youth Mechanism" and that the group issued a statement embodying a package of demands including establishment of development projects in the area and employing the tribe members in the oil companies operating there.