KHARTOUM - Seventeen Chinese workers, rescued by the Sudanese army after a recent rebel attack on a camp site of their company in southern Sudan, left the Sudanese capital of Khartoum for Beijing on Wednesday.    

Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Luo Xiaoguang saw off the Chinese workers upon departure at the Khartoum airport.

A group of rebels belonging to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)/northern sector on January 28 attacked a camp of a Chinese company operating at a road construction site in South Kordofan state.

The rebels abducted 29 of the 47 Chinese workers in the camp, while the other 18 workers fled to neighboring areas. The Sudanese army found 17 Chinese workers later and transported them to a safe place, but one worker went missing and was confirmed dead days later.

The rebels on Tuesday released the 29 Chinese workers who left the SPLA-held Kauda area for the Kenyan capital of  Nairobi by a plane chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross.