A Malian security source cited by AFP confirmed the release of a South African hostage who was kidnapped from Libya more than six years ago.
Van Deventer was an emergency paramedic working for a security company in Libya when he was seized on 3 November 2017 while on his way to a power plant construction site around 1,000km south of Tripoli.
The 48-year-old later appeared in a video while being held by a group allegedly affiliated with Al-Qaeda in northern Mali.
Three Turkish engineers who were abducted with him were freed about seven months later, but he remained in captivity.
AFP quoted a humanitarian source as saying that the paramedic was freed on the border between Mali and Algeria.
