Ninety Egyptians who had been detained in Tripoli over charges of illegal immigration were released on Monday, said a statement by the Egyptian embassy in the Libyan capital, which resumed its work in May after a seven-year-closure.

The Egyptian citizens spent three days at Tripoli's immigration detention centre before the Egyptian embassy was able to resolve the matter with the concerned authorities, said Mohamed Tharwat, the head of the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Tripoli.

Tharwat expressed his thanks to the Libyan interior minister and all municipal authorities for their efforts, which he said reflect the "inextricable" ties between the two countries.

The Egyptian embassy and consulate in Libya were shut in January 2014 after the kidnapping of four Egyptian staff of the embassy by gunmen and an attack on the consulate.

Egypt and Libya agreed in April to resume flights between the two countries’ capitals as Cairo seeks to restore normalcy in relations with the neighbouring country, especially after the election of an executive authority to guide the country until legislative elections are held by the end of this year.

The reopening of the embassy and the resumption of flights came almost a month after a visit to Tripoli by a delegation of 11 Egyptian ministers led by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, which was the first such visit by senior Egyptian officials to the country in a decade.

Libya was a major destination for Egyptians seeking work abroad for decades before the 2011 NATO-backed uprising.

According to a 2010 report by the International Organisation for Migration, some 1.5 million Egyptians were working in Libya at the time of the uprising.