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Image of Asia: Welcoming home sailors held by pirates

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Relatives welcome home Filipino sailor Arnel Balbero, center, one of five Filipinos who were held captive by Somali pirates since 2012, upon arrival Friday, Oct. 28, 2016 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in suburban Pasay city, southeast of Manila, Philippines. Twenty-six Asian sailors, including the five Filipinos, who were held hostage for more than four years in Somalia were released Saturday after a ransom was paid, according to a Somali pirate named Bile Hussein. International mediators said the release "represents the end of captivity for the last remaining seafarers taken hostage during the height of Somali piracy." (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

In this photo by Bullit Marquez, relatives welcome home Arnel Balbero, one of five Filipino sailors who had been held captive by Somali pirates since 2012, when he and others arrived at the airport Friday in the Philippines. The five were among 26 sailors released last week who had been held since the pirates seized them and their Taiwanese-owned fishing vessel in March 2012. International mediators said the release “represents the end of captivity for the last remaining seafarers taken hostage during the height of Somali piracy.” Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay greeted the group at the airport as well.

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