Finns Risto Vahanen and Seppo Franti arrived in Helsinki late on Tuesday from Libya.
Published:
13 September 2000 y., Wednesday
Finns Risto Vahanen and Seppo Franti arrived in Helsinki late on Tuesday from Libya, almost five months after they were kidnapped by Muslim rebels while holidaying at a resort in Malaysia.
Vahanen kissed the ground as he had promised to do after stepping off the government-leased plane at Helsinki international airport at around 9:30 p.m. The two were accompanied by Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja and other officials.
The Finns, laughing and looking relieved to be home, were greeted with flowers by relatives at the airport tarmac.
Vahanen and Franti were released in the Philippines on Saturday with two other Europeans and arrived in Libya on Monday.
They were among 21 people kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas from a resort on the east Malaysian island of Sipadan on April 23 and taken to the southern Philippines island of Jolo.
The rebels handed over the Finns to government emissaries on Saturday along with German Marc Wallert and Frenchman Stephane Loisy. The four arrived in Tripoli on Monday.
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