Kidnapped Irish priest released in Philippines

PHILIPPINEs: Kidnapped Irish priest Michael Sinnott emerged from over a month in the jungles of the southern Philippines on Thursday, declaring himself in good health and eager to continue his missionary work.

Muslim rebels delivered the 79-year-old to Philippine authorities before dawn, ending a kidnap drama that began on October 11 when six gunmen abducted him from his Catholic missionary compound in the volatile south of the country.

“I am very fine thank you,” a smiling but unshaven Sinnott told reporters at an air force base in Zamboanga city before flying to Manila to meet President Gloria Arroyo.

“I would like to thank everyone who helped to get me free and all my friends who prayed for me while I was in captivity.”

Sinnott, who had heart surgery four years ago, said he had been forced to live in extremely tough conditions on the tropical island of Mindanao, with his abductorsleading him from marshy swamps to jungles.

“They treated me very well. (But) conditions were very primitive. We were living in the open under a trapal,” he said, , Thursday, AFP