Cause for celebration! |27 June 2009

The men – Francis Roucou, Georges Bijoux, Robert Naiken, Stephen Stravens, Patrick Dyer, Robin Songoire and Georges Guichard – were on board the Indian Ocean Explorer from Assumption to Mahe when their boat was seized by pirates on March 27, and they were held hostage for some 80 days until they were finally freed at the beginning of this week after intensive negotiations.
 
On hand to welcome them back when they arrived on board an IDC (Island Development Company) plane sent especially to fetch them were President James Michel and other top government officials, as well as their families.

As our selection of photos show, it was an intensely emotional moment when the seven men were welcomed back by their fathers, mothers, siblings, partners and children who had come to meet them at the airport’s CIP lounge.