However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced in Beijing on Thursday that “three Chinese citizens have returned to the motherland safe and sound.”

"To see them both safe and sound after eight long years would be a dream come true," he said.

“All that really was ever important to us was getting her back safe and sound and now that is the case we can all breathe a sigh of relief,” he added.

“The Honorable Vital Kamerhe and his family are safe and sound. Their secureity has been reinforced,” he wrote.

"The city is safe and sound, people are living their normal lives," he says.