BANGKOK — Five Thai workers released after being held hostage for over a year in Gaza arrived in Bangkok on Sunday. Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Watchara Sriaoun, 33, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, were freed on Jan. 30 as part of an exchange arrangement.

Five Thai farmworkers released by Hamas in Gaza last month have arrived home in Bangkok, after spending nearly 500 days in captivity. Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Saethao and Surasak Lamnao had all been working in southern Israel when they were kidnapped during the attacks in October 2023.

Thais were, after Israelis, the nationality most affected by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, with nearly 40 farm workers killed and almost as many captured.

Five Thai nationals held captive by Hamas for over a year returned to Thailand on Sunday, reuniting with their tearful families at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. The returnees, dressed in winter jackets, were met with emotional embraces from their families.

The families of Thai farm workers held hostage in Gaza for over a year wept with joy and hugged their loved ones as they arrived in Bangkok on Sunday. The five Thais smiled as they walked into the arrivals hall at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport after being freed on January 30,

When Surasak Rumnao, 31, left his home in Thailand's rural Udon Thani province three years ago to go across the world to the southern Israeli town of Yesha for agriculture work, his family never imagined they would lose touch with him for over a year when he was kidnapped by Hamas militants in October 2023.

Five Thai workers released after being held hostage for over a year in Gaza arrived in Bangkok and then to their hometowns on Sunday.

The hostages were five of the 31 Thais abducted by Hamas, while two were confirmed dead in May and one is believed to be alive in Gaza.