A total of 28 labourers from Siraha and Dhanusha, who had been held hostage in Srinagar, India, for the past five months, have been rescued.

As many as 21 from Siraha and seven from Dhanusha were brought back to Nepal from India on Friday. A team led by Secretary Dinesh Bhattarai of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare rescued them. They have been handed over to human trafficking control committees of respective districts.

According to the District Administration Office, Siraha, the individuals had gone to India for employment through agents and had been out of contact with their families for the past five months.

The human trafficking control committees will now hand over the labourers to their families. An investigation will be conducted into how they went and who sent them for employment, according to Rabindra Kumar Mahat, a section officer at the District Administration Office, Siraha.

“We will hand them over to their family members today,” Mahat told the Kantipur daily, the Post’s sister publication. “Immediately after that, an investigation will begin, and those involved will face the law.”