Norwegian freed by Abu Sayyaf flies home

Released Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad  (AP Photo/Nickee Butlangan)

MANILA — The Norwegian national who was abducted and held by the Abu Sayyaf for nearly a year flew home Thursday afternoon.

The lanky Kjartan Sekkingstad, now clean-shaven, boarded at around 1:30 p.m. Thai Airways flight TG-621 to Bangkok at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 1.

Escorted by Norwegian Embassy officials, Sekkingstad headed for Thailand to catch a connecting flight to Oslo.

Sekkingstad was released in the afternoon of September 17 after being held captive for less than a year.

The Norwegian national was abducted on September 21, 2015 from a resort in Samal Island along with three other people: Canadian nationals John Ridsdel and Robert Hall; as well as Filipino Tess Flor Hall.

Canadians Ridsdel and Hall were beheaded in June by the bandits while their Filipino captive was released in the same month before President Duterte’s inauguration.  SFM