Originally published on November 18, 2013

A French engineer held hostage by Islamist militants in northern Nigeria for almost a year escaped his kidnappers on Saturday.

According to reports, the 63-year-old hostage, Francis Collomp, working for renewable energy firm Vergnet, was kidnapped last December by the Islamist group Ansaru.

He was seized by about 30 gunmen who stormed his compound in the northern Nigerian town of Rimi, close to the Niger border, Reuters reported.

On Saturday, the kidnappers exited the cell where he was kept without locking the door, and went to pray.

While they were at prayer, Collomp sneaked out the cell and began to run. He stopped a motorbike taxi driver, and was taken to the nearest police station.

Collomp was transported to the French embassy on Sunday morning.

"This man showed exceptional courage," Hollande told reporters in Israel, where he is on a state visit, according to Reuters. "At the risk of his life, he took advantage of an opportunity and then, in conditions worthy of an adventure novel, he managed to free himself."

Collomp was found weak and had lost a lot of weight but was not injured, a diplomatic source said.

According to Reuters, "Ansaru, the militant group that kidnapped Collomp, said soon after his abduction that he had been taken in retaliation for France's military action against jihadi insurgents in nearby Mali and its ban on wearing the full-face veil.

"Britain has put Ansaru on its official "terrorist group" list, saying it is aligned with al Qaeda and was behind the kidnapping of a British national and an Italian who were killed last year during a failed rescue attempt.

"The group is thought to have loose ties to the better-known Islamist militant sect Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in a four-year-long insurgency focused mostly on Nigerian security forces, religious targets and politicians.

"Boko Haram and splinter groups like Ansaru pose the biggest security threat in Africa's second-big