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Fifty of the 303 students abducted from a Catholic school in Niger State, north-central Nigeria, have escaped captivity and reunited with their families, school authorities confirmed on Sunday.
The announcement came as Pope Francis called for the swift release of those still missing, Africanews reports.
The children — aged between 10 and 18 — escaped individually between Friday and Saturday, according to the Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Niger State and proprietor of the school.
Despite relief over the escapes, 253 students and 12 teachers remain in captivity. “We were able to ascertain this when we decided to contact and visit some parents,” Yohanna said in a statement.
In a separate incident, 38 worshippers kidnapped during a deadly attack on the Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State, have regained their freedom, according to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.
Read more: 38 church worshippers abducted by terrorists in Nigeria freed
Gunmen stormed the church on Tuesday, killing two people and abducting dozens.
The spate of abductions has revived national outrage.
“My first reaction was that I was numb and heartbroken. This is something we should all rally against as a nation and say. Never will anyone touch our children, and we will go after them,” said Aisha Yesufu, rights activist and co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girls movement.
President Bola Tinubu, in a separate statement, credited the release of the Kwara worshippers to “the efforts of security agencies,” though he provided no further details.
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