Family calls for immediate return of Indonesian hostage escapee

Indonesian hostage Mohammad Sofyan. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MAKASSAR, Indonesia—The family of Mohammad Sofyan, a member of the tugboat Charles 001 who managed to escape from his Abu Sayyaf captors in the Philippines on Wednesday, have said they hope the government will immediately return Sofyan to Indonesia.

“I’m here asking for [the government’s] help to immediately return my husband to his hometown, so he can be with us again. We are really worried with his condition,” Sofyan’s wife, Sri Dewi, 21, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

READ: Indonesian hostage escapes from Abu Sayyaf in Sulu

Sri said she had received official notification of her husband’s escape from the foreign ministry on Wednesday.

“I got a phone call yesterday [Wednesday] from a Foreign Ministry official, who said my husband had escaped his Abu Sayyaf captors and that he is safe now,” she went on.

Sri said she and her family thanked God for receiving the good news after seeing Sofyan’s face on television. “Alhamdulillah [thank God]. We are really grateful that my husband finally managed to escape his captors safely,” she said.

Sri hoped to be able to speak to her husband for this first time in three months following his abduction.

Sri said Sofyan had made his last phone call in May before he departed for the Philippines, promising to return in good time to celebrate Idul Fitri with Sri and their 13-month-old son in their hometown in Mangara Bombang district, Takalar, South Sulawesi.

Sofyan had worked a crewmember based in Kalimantan for a year before the kidnapping occurred on June 21. He returned to Takalar once every three month.