Two Austrians freed by the north African branch of Al-Qaeda after more than eight months in captivity arrived in Vienna on Saturday evening and were immediately flown to hospital for a check-up.

Wolfgang Ebner, 51, and Andrea Kloiber, 44, travelled home on a plane chartered by the the Austrian army, accompanied by a delegation led by Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.

Immediately upon their arrival at Vienna airport, they were flown by helicopter to a nearby military hospital, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Plassnik, speaking to reporters after the arrival, said: `I am relieved at the freeing of the hostages.`

Before setting off for Vienna, they attended a small ceremony at Mali`s presidential palace with President Amadou Toumani Toure and Plassnik, who called their release `a small miracle.`

Ebner told journalists in Mali that while conditions were hard they were treated `normally`.

`The conditions of detention were harsh, it was not at all easy, but we were treated normally,` Ebner said, speaking in German.

Kloiber and Ebner were freed Thursday night after 252 days in captivity.

Circumstances surrounding their release remain unclear. While Vienna denies any ransom was paid, sources close to the negotiations say money did change hands to secure a release.

`I know that a ransom was paid. However the sum was lower, they (the kidnappers) got a lot less than what they wanted,` a source close to the negotiations, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

However, the Malian president stressed Saturday his country had not received any money or made any financial transaction in order to get the hostages freed.

According to Toure the release was due to the efforts of the Malian secret service and local elders who were mediators.

`I want to say clearly that Mali did not receive any money for some kind of financial transaction` related to the kidnapping, he said.

The Austrian desert hiking enthusiasts disappeared in southern Tunisia in February as they were driving in their Austrian-registered four-wheel-drive vehicle.

A few weeks later, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for their kidnapping.

The hostages were moved to northern Mali -- a region that borders Algeria -- where the kidnappers initially demanded the release of a number of Islamic extremists imprisoned in Algeria and Tunisia.

Later sources said there were several demands for ransom.

The Malian and Austrian governments have refused to comment on the circumstances of the kidnapping and the release.

A source in the Malian security forces said simply that Ebner and Kloiber were released `1,000 kilometers to the north of the Kidal - Timbuktu`, in a region which borders Mauritania and Algeria.