Oman secures Kerala priest Tom’s release
new delhi — Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a Catholic priest from Kerala, has been rescued in Yemen, 18 months after he was ab- ducted by mili- tants during a deadly attack on a care home in the port city of Aden. “I am happy to inform that Father Tom Uzhunnalil has been rescued,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Swaraj said in a tweet.
Fr Uzhunnalil was abducted in March last year by Daesh terrorists after they attacked the care home run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
Oman’s news agency ONA reported that Oman, in coordination with the Yemeni parties, have managed to find Fr Uzhunnalil and that he has been moved to Muscat from where he will return to Kerala. — PTI
trivandrum — Kerala Catholic priest Tom Uzhunnallil, abducted by terrorists in Aden in March last year, has been rescued from captivity from an undisclosed location in Yemen, thanks to the intervention of the Sultanate of Oman.
The Gulf nation helped to find and rescue Uzhannalil who is an employee of the Vatican.
“In response to the Royal Orders of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said and as per a request from the Vatican to assist in the rescuing of a Vatican employee, the concerned authorities in the Sultanate, in coordination with the Yemeni authorities, have managed to find a Vatican government employee. He was transferred this morning to Muscat in preparation for his return home,” the Times of Oman quoted the Oman government as saying in a statement.
According to the report, Uzhunnalil expressed his thanks to God and to Sultan Qaboos, and wished him good health and wellness.
“He also thanked his brothers, sisters and all relatives and friends who prayed for his safety and release,” the statement added.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted about the release of the Catholic priest, who was abducted in March last year.
“I am happy to inform that Father Tom Uzhunnalil has been rescued,” she said.
According to reports reaching Kerala, after his release, the priest was flown from Yemen to Muscat. He later left Oman on a chartered flight for the Vatican. The media in Oman confirmed the news of the release of the priest. He will be flown to Kerala later in the day.
Expressing happiness at the news, the priest’s brother Mathew Uzhunnallil said their prayers have been finally answered.
A spokesperson of the church Fr C. Jimmy told the media that the news has been received with a great sense of happiness.
In March 2016, militants barged into a care home for the elderly set up by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Yemen’s Aden and shot dead many people, including four nuns of the charity organisation, among whom one was from India. —