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Abhilash returns home to ecstatic welcome

Nedumbassery: P.K. Abhilash, who was abducted by group of tribesmen in Sudan and held hostage for 73 days, reached home at Gothuruthu in North Paravur near here on Thursday morning.

On arriving at the airport here in a Qatar Airways flight at 4 a.m., Mr. Abhilash was given a warm reception by elated family members and friends. “Living as a hostage with the ultras in unknown places was really a gruesome experience and I am really glad to be back at home,” said an ecstatic Abhilash.

Mr. Abhilash, 27, a welder working for an Indian firm, Petro Energy Contracting Services, a company which provides services to the oil industry in Sudan, was kidnapped along with three other Indian technicians and a Sudanese driver.

From the airport, he went straight to St. Sebastian’s Church, Gothuruth, and offered special prayers along with his family members.

On hearing the news of Mr. Abhilash’s return, local people flocked to his house.

Recounted his experiences in captivity, Mr. Abhilash said, “We were given rice and onion, and sometimes, dried fruits like dates after seeking our preference on diet through one of the hostages who knew Arabic and we slept on mats in plastic tents”.

Of the four Indians, two, Mohammed Aseeb Sheik of Maharashtra and Biplab Biswas from West Bengal escaped in May and the other, Surjeeth Singh from Punjab, broke free in June. “Even I tried to escape, but was caught after about three or four kilometres as they followed my footprints and I was severely beaten,” recalled Mr. Abhilash.

“Initially, they were a group of 10 but later truncated to eight or six people. Besides, some used to visit these camps and leave soon”, he said. He said, following an attack by government forces, the hostages were shifted to southern Sudan where the Federal government has little control.

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