MADRID (AP) – One of the three Spanish freelance journalists released after nearly 10 months of captivity in Syria said Monday he feels like he is “walking on air” after being reunited with his family in Spain.
Angel Sastre told Onda Cero radio station he is grateful for the government’s efforts to secure the men’s release but gave no details about their captivity or how they came home.
The three went missing on July 12 near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. They arrived in Madrid on Sunday on a Spanish military jet sent to Turkey to bring them back.
The Spanish government has not disclosed any information about how it won the men’s freedom. However, acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told Antena 3 radio Monday it was “a big relief” when officials discovered that the men had been taken by the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, and not the Islamic State group which commonly kills captives.
“It gave us some degree of comfort, within the anxiety of having three countrymen abducted and with some dark times when we had no news,” Garcia-Margallo said. “The intelligence service did a magnificent job.”