Mumbai: Rescued Pakistani sailors fly back home

The five Pakistani sailors, staying at a police station in south Mumbai after being rescued by Indian Navy in the high seas in March, flew to their country on Monday evening, the police said.

"The five rescued sailors flew to their country on Monday evening with the help of Pakistan's High Commission officials. They took the flight from the international airport," said Yellow Gate police station inspector M G Tope.

The ordeal of the five -- Aurangzeb Nabi Bakhsh Balloch, 24, his younger brother Sajjad Ali, 19, Lal Bakhsh Murid Khan, 20, Farhad Aalam Khan, 24, and Mohammed Umair, 18, -- working on fishing trawler Al-Murtuza, started in December, when Somalian pirates hijacked their vessel and took the 18 crew members hostage. They were rescued in March by the Indian Navy and were handed over to the Yellow Gate police.

However, they were inadvertently classified as "prisoners" though later the police corrected the tag and mentioned them as hostages.

On Friday, an assistant consular officer from the Pakistan High Commission visited them and told them that they would be flown back soon.