Fifty students escape captors after mass kidnapping in Nigeria but more than 250 still held

Fifty students who were abducted from a Catholic school in northern Nigeria on Friday have returned to their families after they managed to escape, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said on Sunday.

Armed bandits kidnapped 303 children and 12 teachers from the St. Mary’s Private Catholic school in the country’s north-central Niger State on Friday, according to CAN. The students are both male and female, some as young as ten.

“The pupils escaped between Friday and Saturday and have reunited with their parents as they could not return to the school after they escaped,” spokesman for CAN’s Niger State chapter chairman Most. Rev.Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, Daniel Atori, said in a statement.

Atori said 253 children – including 250 students from the school and three children belonging to school staff members – and 12 teachers remain captive.

Pope Leo made an appeal for the release of the students and teachers during his weekly address of the Angelus prayer on Sunday, urging “the competent authorities to take appropriate and timely decisions to ensure their release.”