ALAPPUZHA: After 112 days of detention by Houthi rebels of Yemen, three Malayali men working on a UAE ship have safely reached their homes. They arrived at the Delhi airport on a flight arranged by the Royal Air Force of Oman on Tuesday morning. By about 9pm, Akhil Reghu, of Kayamkulam, and Sreejith Sajeevan, of Kaipuzha in Kottayam, arrived at the Kochi airport, while Deepash, of Meppayur in Kozhikode, touched down at the Kozhikode airport. Both airports witnessed sentimental moments as their relieved families greeted them tears of joy.
Incidentally, Akhil’s wife Jithina, who was at the Kochi airport, also was caught up in a crisis recently, as she was in Ukraine when the war broke out. She reached Kayamkulam on March 7, after going through a 12-day ordeal.
The UAE-flagged ship, Rawabee owned by Liwa Marine, was hijacked near the port city of Hodeidah, about 50km off Yemen’s coast on January 2. Of 14 crew members on board, seven were Indians, three from the UK, and one each from the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Ethiopia.
The ship was transporting back a dismantled Saudi field hospital from Yemen’s Socotra island in the Indian Ocean to Jazan in Saudi Arabia. Following mediation by the Oman government, the rebels released the crew but retained the ship under their custody.