Manila - Freed Italian Red Cross hostage Eugenio Vagni left the Philippines Wednesday to return to Italy, four days after he was released from nearly six months in captivity on a southern island. The 62-year-old humanitarian worker of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), accompanied by his wife and daughter, boarded a KLM flight to Amsterdam en route to Italy.
Vagni, along with two other ICRC workers Swiss Andreas Notter and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba, were seized on January 15 by Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo Island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila.
Notter and lacaba were freed separately by the rebels.
Vagni was freed on Sunday after 179 days in captivity allegedly in exchange for the freedom of the two wives of Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad who were seized by security forces on Tuesday last week.
The military vows to conduct relentless operations against the Abu Sayyaf rebels on Jolo while the government is studying the possibility of providing them amnesty.
The Abu Sayyaf is the most violent Muslim rebel group in the southern Philippines. The group has been blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks and high-profile kidnappings in the country.
