Freed Indonesian hostages reunited with their families

JAKARTA, (AFP) - Two Indonesian seamen who were rescued after being held by rebels in the southern Philippines for more than two months returned home Saturday.

Erikson Hutagaol and Yamin Labaso went straight to the foreign ministry to be reunited with their families when they arrived in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

Hutagaol and Labaso were rescued this month when Philippine elite forces stormed a rebel hideout in the southern island of Jolo. A third hostage, Ahmad Resmiyadi, remains in captivity but is believed still to be alive.

Speaking to Radio Elshinta in Jakarta, Hutagaol recounted their ordeal, saying they often had only one meal a day, if there was anything to eat at all.

"Sometimes we only ate rice with salt. Sometimes we didn’t eat at all. We moved from one place to another," he told the radio station by telephone. But the 23-year-old sailor said the captors treated them well and gave the hostages medicine when they were sick.

"We were never beaten or treated harshly, but they constantly kept an eye on us," Hutagaol said.

"When we contracted malaria they took us to their doctor and we were given anti-malaria shots," he said.

The three Indonesians were seized in March after their boat was attacked off Malaysia’s Sabah region by a group calling itself the Jamiat al-Islamiah of Southern Mindanao.

The group is allegedly affiliated with the Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked by the US and Philippine governments to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said the militants had demanded a $790,000 ransom from the hostages’ employer.