Hostage stunned to find out his football team lost while he was held in jungle
MANILA, Philippines — Six months of jungle captivity by al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines has deprived Italian Red Cross aid worker Eugenio Vagni of life, love and news at home — including one that stunned him: his football team didn't make it to the European Champions' League.
The 62-year-old Vagni said at a news conference in Manila on Tuesday, two days after Abu Sayyaf militants freed him to a government negotiator on southern Jolo Island, ending the country's worst hostage crisis in recent years, "Oh, no, no, no."
The International Committee of the Red Cross worker, appearing freshly shaved, recalled how he dodged gunbattles between his captors and government troops, survived through scant meals of fish and rice and longed for home near Florence with his wife and daughter.
Vagni was seized by gunmen along with two other Red Cross volunteers after they inspected an ICRC project at a jail facility in Patikul town in early January.
The two others, a Swiss man and a Filipino woman, were released separately in April. - AP
The 62-year-old Vagni said at a news conference in Manila on Tuesday, two days after Abu Sayyaf militants freed him to a government negotiator on southern Jolo Island, ending the country's worst hostage crisis in recent years, "Oh, no, no, no."
The International Committee of the Red Cross worker, appearing freshly shaved, recalled how he dodged gunbattles between his captors and government troops, survived through scant meals of fish and rice and longed for home near Florence with his wife and daughter.
Vagni was seized by gunmen along with two other Red Cross volunteers after they inspected an ICRC project at a jail facility in Patikul town in early January.
The two others, a Swiss man and a Filipino woman, were released separately in April. - AP
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