Six Cameroonian nationals who spent 213 days as captives of Boko Haram are being flown to the capital, Yaounde, on Tuesday.

The six men were presented to the governor of the Far North Region, Midjiyawa Bakari, on Monday after undergoing medical examinations at the Rapid Intervention Battalion healthcare unit in the regional capital, Maroua.

The businessmen, all from the country’s West Region, were abducted on June 11, 2015 while travelling to Maroua from Kousseri. They escaped after a raid by Cameroonian and Nigerian forces on Boko Haram positions on Jan. 5 and later rescued by soldiers, one of the hostages, Kouokam Mathurin, said in a phone interview

The other freed businessmen are Ngatchoua Cedric, Njikang Idrissa, Pouamong Ousouman, Talla Charles and Dine Arnaud.

Thousands of people have been killed in neighboring Nigeria as a campaign by Boko Haram militants to impose their version of Islamic law enters its seventh year. The violence has spilled over to Cameroon, Chad and Niger. (Bloomberg)

•Photo shows Nigerian troops combing a North-East community in search of for Boko insurgents.