Kochi, Dec 20 (IANS) Indian sailor V. Vijayan who was released from a jail in Togo expressed his thanks to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his release.
He, along with the captain of the ship, Sunil James, was freed from a Togo jail Thursday and reached India Friday morning.
“I am thankful to the prime minister who helped us through his intervention with the authorities in Togo,” Vijayan told reporters after he arrived at the airport here from Mumbai.
Vijayan showed his displeasure against the media and also the state government, which, according to him, did nothing in his time of need.
“My wife was running from pillar to post for 10 days and you (the media) did nothing to help her and now you are after me to know things,” said Vijayan, a third engineer in the ship that was first hijacked and abandoned after a few days.
According to him, they are still clueless as to why they were jailed.
“For three days, we were blindfolded and held as hostage by the kidnappers and after they went away, Togo authorities took over their ship and we ended up in jail,” said Vijayan.
He was received at the airport by his family and they too were not keen on speaking to the media.