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RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - A Vietnamese diplomat, kidnapped at gunpoint Saturday while visiting Rio de Janeiro, escaped from a shantytown hideout and turned up unharmed at his hotel on Sunday, local media reported.
Vu Thanh Nam, Vietnamese Embassy advisor in Brasilia since 2006, managed to escape from his captors' hideout in Complejo del Aleman, north of Rio de Janeiro, with the help of a taxi driver, the O Globo daily said in its online edition.
Rio police had earlier said they had no leads as they searched the area around Cristo Redentor - the huge statue of Jesus Christ, arms outstretched, that overlooks Rio from Corcovado mountain, where the kidnapping took place.
Nam and three other men of Asian origin were abducted Saturday by gunmen in hoods who held up the taxi carrying the diplomat, his father and his brother, along with a minibus full of tourists, visiting the famous tourist site.
After robbing the tourists of money and valuables, they stuffed Nam in the trunk of a car and took off with another three male tourists from the group, according to GloboNews television.
A member of the Rio police anti-kidnapping unit told AFP earlier Sunday that no ransom demand had been received for Nam's release.
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