A Thai farmworker held hostage in Gaza for more than a year said he felt “reborn” as he and four compatriots arrived home on Sunday to tears of joy from their relieved families.
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The five Thais smiled as they walked into the arrivals hall at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport after being freed on January 30 as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Gaza war.
The five – Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Tanna, Sathian Suwannakham, Surasak Lamnau and Bannawat Saethao – were met by a small group of overjoyed relatives and officials before travelling on to their hometowns.
Watchara was embraced by his parents and nine-year-old daughter as he arrived at his simple two-storey home in northeastern Udon Thani province and was handed bright yellow marigolds, a Thai symbol of prosperity.
“Thank you to everyone who helped me out, I feel like I have been reborn,” the 33-year-old Christian said, before eating his first meal with his family in several years – boiled rice with pork.
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Weeping, his 85-year-old grandfather told him: “You are back, I thought you were dead.”