Five Italian hostages, freed after being held by Yemeni kidnappers for five days, returned home Saturday.

The plane carrying the five former hostages, three women and two men, landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport in the early afternoon, Rome airports spokesman Adriano Franceschetti said.

"Yemen is a splendid country with splendid people," former hostage Camilla Ramigni said in an interview aired on Tg3 television news. "Certainly it would be a place to go back to."

However, former hostage Patrizia Rossi appeared still terrified. "We were so, so scared!...Imagine what it's like having an automatic rifle gun pointed at you the whole time, being under threat permanently," Rossi recounted their six-day ordeal.

Investigators questioned the five Italians for about one-and-a-half hours before allowing them to take two separate planes headed for Venice and Milan, near their hometowns, Air One airline spokesman Nick Brough said.

They were released unharmed from armed tribesmen on Friday, government sources said.

The sources said negotiations with the abductors were successful, which resulted in the release of the hostages safe and sound.

Tribesmen kidnapped the five Italian tourists on Jan. 1 in Maarib province, about 170 km east of the capital Sanaa, to press their demand for the release of eight tribal members imprisoned on criminal charges by the Yemeni government.

There was no official word on what persuaded the six kidnappers to release the hostages and surrender.

Kidnapping of foreign tourists is frequent in the tiny country where armed tribesmen often demand the release of fellow members.

The hostages were usually set free unhurt after negotiations between authorities and kidnappers.

Late last month, five German tourists including a former senior diplomat, were released after three days in captivity.

Source: Xinhua