Vagni back in Italy

ROME – Freed Italian aid worker Eugenio Vagni returned home to celebrations in his small Tuscan town on Saturday.

Gaunt but smiling, Vagni landed in Bologna and continued on to his hometown of Montevarchi, which welcomed him with an open-air party in a piazza.

He joked with reporters that it was good to be back, “especially after this six-month vacation that was very hard.”

Last week, the Abu Sayyaf Island freed the Red Cross worker, ending one of the Philippines’ worst hostage crises in recent years, after the government agreed to release the two arrested wives of the kidnappers’ leader. Italy’s foreign minister has said no ransom was paid.

The 62-year-old was kidnapped with two colleagues Jan. 15 in Jolo. Abu Sayyaf later freed the Swiss and Filipino hostages but held on to Vagni, entering into negotiations while troops tried to rescue him.

At a news conference in Montevarchi, Vagni recalled the toughest moments of his captivity, including a threat of execution and a bout of cholera, as well as the dreary daily routine of sleeping on hammocks and surviving on a diet of rice and dried fish.

“The thought of returning home, seeing my family, my wife and daughter, gave me the strength to go on,” he said.

Vagni said he knew nothing of the negotiations and the circumstances surrounding his release as he had no contact with the outside and could not even communicate with his kidnappers, who spoke only a local language.

Until he was freed, he was not even aware that the second hostage, Swiss Andreas Notter, had been released, Vagni said.

Vagni, who waved and smiled constantly during the news conference, added that he didn’t blame Filipinos for what happened.

“The Filipinos didn’t kidnap me, they were people who are members of an organization that doesn’t represent the Filipino people,” he said. “Filipinos are fantastic people, they welcomed me very warmly and I’ve been told that in Manila they said Mass and lit candles from day one.” - AP