Seven of the total 16 Bulgarian sailors from the abducted and later freed ship “Malaspina castle” returned to Bulgaria today with a flight from Istanbul to Sofia.

“The condition of the sailors is good”, said the vice-minister of foreign relations Milen Keremedchiev. According to the sailors themselves, they were not physically mistreated.

All of the Bulgarian sailors are alive and well. The rest of them will fly to Bulgaria once they reach Singapoore.

“We were like livestock that has to be paid for to set the ship free”, said Dragan Draganov, one of the abducted by Somali pirates Bulgarian sailors.