Over three years ago 23 sailors were captured by Somali Pirates. These men were members of the Malaysian-flagged container ship, MV Albedo. They were taken in November 2010.

image via Twitter from TheIndependent

In total there were seven Pakistani, two Indian, one Iranian, seven Bangladeshi and six from Sri Lanka via Yahoo. In an argument with one of the captors, an Indian member was shot, while four of the men from Sri Lanka drowned.

The seven Pakistani men were released in 2012 after a Pakistani businessman raised $1.2 million in ransom money. The other eleven men remained hostages until recently.

With a little help from some of the Somali captors, early Friday morning the men escaped according to TheTelegraph. "Few of them had shoes, some had only their underclothes, but they managed to escape through a window and reach a place of safety," said Omar Sheikh Ali Osoble, counter-piracy focal point for the Galmudug regional administration. It was said they snuck out a window to escape.

"We collected them and put them in a nice hotel last night. They had air-conditioning and hot water, and all of them were so happy this morning. They were not in a bad condition, but they told us stories of their experiences which were terrible.”

These men encountered terrible living conditions and quite frequently faced torture. They are now tasting freedom for the first time in 43 months.