The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Joyous scenes after hostage’s release

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Saturday, Jul 26, 2008
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Joyous scenes after hostage’s release

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Kunjachan would prefer to call it divine intervention. For, when the news of the release of his 27-year-old son Abhilash in Sudan reached him he was about to step into a church seeking the safety of that very son.

For once after more than two months he smiled even as he tried hard to pull back his tears. The youngest among the five children of Kunjachan and Baby, Abhilash, hailing from Gothuruth in North Paravur, was working as a welder for a firm owned by an Indian in Sudan.

He, along with three other Indian workers and a Sudanese driver, was kidnapped by rebels while returning from work on May 13.

A Malayali in Sudan was the one to inform Kunjachan about his son’s release. Even then doubts lingered. It was after receiving a call from E. Ahamed, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, that the family really relaxed.

Baby, Abhilash’s mother recollected the ordeal of the last 74 days when apprehensions over the safety of her son haunted her every minute. All these days the mood in this household swung from hope to depression depending on the news that trickled in from Sudan. And when it was known that except for Abhilash and the Sudanese driver, the other three captives had escaped, it seemed like the youngster’s fate had been sealed.

Minister for Fisheries S. Sarma and V.D. Satheeshan, MLA, were among those who visited the house after the news broke.

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