US hostage Tommy Hammill was "recovered" by US forces south of Tikrit, 170 km north of Baghdad, US military Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said Sunday.

It appears that Hammill escaped from captors, who had been holding him since an attack on an American convoy on April 9, said the US military.

Brig. Gen. Kimmitt said that Hamill, a truck driver from Mississippi, was "in good health" and he approached and identified himself to a US military unit that was patrolling an oil pipeline.

"Mr. Hamill apparently escaped from a building," Kimmitt added, "He has spoken to his family. He is now ready to go back to work."

The 43-year-old Hamill was among nine missing workers at Halliburton Corp. since an attack on their convoy west of Baghdad on April 9. Four of the bodies of the workers have been found since.

Pfc. Keith M. Maupin, a US soldier kidnapped in the attack, was last seen alive days later in a video footage aired by Al Jazzera, Qatar-based Arab space channel, and his fate remains unknown.

(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2004)