Antonio Pampliega, José Manuel López and Ángel Sastre are reunited with relatives in Madrid but Spanish PM silent on how releases secured

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Three Spanish freelance journalists held captive in Syria for nearly 10 months have returned home, tearfully hugging relatives as they got off a military jet sent to Turkey to bring them back.

Antonio Pampliega, José Manuel López and Ángel Sastre shook hands with the deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria, on the tarmac of the Torrejón de Ardoz air force base on the outskirts of Madrid on Sunday. They then smiled and cried as relatives ran to hug them.

The prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, posted a photograph of the journalists descending from the aircraft with a caption saying “Welcome!” on his official Twitter account.

“Allied and friendly” countries had assisted in ensuring the journalists’ release, his office said in a statement late on Saturday.

It highlighted Turkey and Qatar, saying they had helped out “especially in the final phase” of the journalists’ liberation. It provided no information on the captors.

The three journalists went missing on 12 July, near the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. At the time, the region was under the control of al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front.

TVE said in its afternoon news bulletin that the journalists had gone to a cafe in Madrid with their friends and relatives, where they received a phone call from King Felipe. They told journalists that they had no idea what part of Syria they had been held captive in.

The broadcaster said López explained that the three had been incarcerated together for the first three months, after which Pampliega was taken away and not seen again until just before the flight home.

The journalists, who provided news to several media outlets, had travelled to Syria to report on the war that broke out there in 2011.

All three were experienced freelance journalists who had worked in Syria before and knew what type of precautions they would need to take, according to Elsa Gonzalez, president of Spain’s federation of journalists.

Three other Spanish journalists were released in March 2014 after being held hostage by Syrian extremists for months.

The Spanish government has never given details of how it secured the releases.