British hostage Judith Tebbutt was freed yesterday after being held by for more than six months in Somalia.
In a statement released by the British foreign office, Ms Tebbutt said she was “hugely relieved to at last be free” and “overjoyed to be reunited with my son Ollie”.
A Somali pirate who identified himself as Ahmed said Ms Tebbutt had been handed over to regional officials after a ransom was paid via an air drop. Reports suggested the ransom was raised by Ms Tebbutt’s family.
Television footage showed a white man in khaki clothes and a hat shaking hands with a Somali man before putting his arm around Ms Tebbutt, who wore a bright headscarf, and rushing her to an aircraft. A foreign office official later denied the government had paid any ransom.
Ms Tebbutt’s husband David, a publishing executive, was killed during an attack in September at the Kiwayu Safari Village, an exclusive resort on Kenya’s coast. The abductors fled the scene by boat, along with Ms Tebbutt. The freed hostage said: “This . . . is a time when my joy at being safe again is overwhelmed by my immense grief, shared by Ollie and the wider family, following David’s passing in September last year.”
– (The Financial Times)