The World : Contras Free 8 W. Germans

Eight West German volunteer workers captured May 17 by Nicaraguan contras in a southern village were freed, the rebels and the leftist Sandinista government announced. A spokesman for President Daniel Ortega said that the Germans--four men and four women--and 15 Nicaraguan peasants were released near the hamlet of Presillitas, about 100 miles east of Managua. They were reported to be in good health. In Tegucigalpa, Honduras, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed rebels said the West Germans, volunteers who had been working on a housing project, are to be handed over to West German special envoy Hans-Juergen Wischnewski in Managua.