Yemeni tribesmen have kidnapped a Japanese engineer and a Yemini driver near the capital Sana and are demanding the release of jailed relatives, the Japanese Embassy in Yemen and news media said Nov. 16.

Negotiations are under way between the Yemini government and the tribesmen, and a ransom is not being demanded, the embassy said.

The Yemini government has located where the two are being held captive and both of them are safe, the embassy said, adding the Japanese engineer contacted the embassy on a cell phone.

The engineer was later confirmed to be a 63-year-old Tokyo resident and employee of a Tokyo-based consultancy by a source related to the firm. An embassy official said the male engineer has been engaged in an aid project to build schools in and around Sana for more than a year.