Negotiations continue for the release of six Israelis held on the Caribbean island of West Caicos after nine Israelis who were freed were transferred to a nearby island, according to an Israeli Foreign Ministry statement on Friday. A spokesman for the ministry expressed optimism the six will be released soon.

The 15 management and engineering contractors of the Ashtrom construction company were taken captive by unpaid Chinese laborers at the start of the week, after a resort project on the island was stopped in the wake of the world financial crush. Ashtrom says it is taking care of the payment matter, even though the workers' real beef is with the personnel agency that they claim charged them $15,000 each for spots on the construction staff.