Freed Spanish sailors return home

The Spanish crew of a boat hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean have returned to Madrid, more than six weeks after they were captured.

The 16 crew members arrived in Spain on Saturday, where they were greeted by family members, four days after their release.

The crew had first traveled to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, where they described to a news conference of being threatened during their time as hostages.

"We were very badly treated - the worst possible," Ricardo Blach, the ship skipper, told Spanish media.

"They hit me, tied me up and 1,000 other things," he said, according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

'Volleys of bullets'

Wilson Pillate, another crew member said the pirates had an array of different guns, including pistols and Kalashnikovs.

"There were times when they would turn wild, firing volleys of bullets in the air," the Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

"One day in particular they rounded all of us up. They said our days had ended and they would kill all of us."

The Alakrana tuna fishing trawler was captured last month about 740km northwest of the Seychelles island of Mahe, along with its crew of 36 people.

The ship's crew also included eight Indonesians and others from the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Madagascar, Seychelles and Senegal.

The pirates released the ship on Tuesday, saying they were paid $4m for the crew's release, which would be one of the highest ransoms paid.

But the Spanish government has not confirmed it paid any money.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain's prime minister, has refused to confirm whether a ransom had been paid, saying "the government has done what it had to do".

Attacks off Seychelles have surged after pirates extended their range to evade navies patrolling off the Horn of Africa.