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Bob Semple: British hostage free after 18 months in Yemen 'delighted and relieved' to be home

The 64-year-old was kidnapped by al-Qaeda while working as an oil engineer

Tuesday 25 August 2015 17:38 BST

Photo issued by the Foreign Office of Bob and Sallie Semple (PA)

A British hostage has said he is "delighted and relieved" to be back home after he was held by al-Qaeda for 18 months in Yemen.

Bob Semple, 64, was extracted by United Arab Emirates forces after a military intelligence operation, with David Cameron briefed on the mission by the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince.

Militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula captured Mr Semple in February 2014 when he was working as a petroleum engineer in the Yemeni province of Hadramawt.

In a statement released via the Foreign Office, he said: "I am delighted and relieved to be back home safely and to be reunited with my family after such a long time.

"My wife Sallie and I want to thank all the people who supported us through this ordeal: especially the Foreign Office, Hostage UK, the police, our family, friends and well wishers, and the UAE forces who secured my release. We are incredibly grateful to you all.

"We would also like to thank the media for showing restraint during my 18 months in captivity, and I ask that this continues, allowing me to enjoy some valuable and much missed time with my family. It is great to be home."

After Mr Semple's release was confirmed, video emerged which appeared to show the Briton pleading for his life on 31 August last year, seven months after he was captured. The footage was posted to YouTube by Arab broadcaster AlziandiQ8, but not widely reported.

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

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1/10In pictures: Yemen water crisis

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni girl sits on plastic jerry cans as she waits get water at a public tap at a slum in the capital Sanaa. In the mountains around Sanaa, farmers are drilling so many unlicensed boreholes to irrigate the thirsty crop for the stimulant plant qat, craved by the capital's residents, that the water table is falling by as much as six metres (20 feet) a year

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni young boy pushes a wheelbarrow loaded with plastic jerry cans before filling them at a public tap at a slum in the capital Sanaa

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni child fills a bottle with water as families from the northern city of Amran, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Sanaa, take refugee in the capital after fleeing their home as battles between the Yemeni army and Shiite Muslim rebels intensifies

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

Yemenis gather by a water point to fill their jerry cans in Sanaa as the city suffers a water shortage

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni woman carries on her head a jerry can after filling it at a public tap at a slum in the capital Sanaa

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni young boy drinks water at a public tap at a slum in the capital Sanaa. Yemen, ravaged by years of factional strife and widespread poverty, is one of the world's most water-stressed countries with the lack of access to clean water having devastating implications for children

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni refugee girl fills a container with water in a makeshift kitchen in the grounds of a public school in the port city of Aden, now being used as the living quarters for internally displaced families who had to flee their homes when Al-Qaeda militants swept into southern Abyan province

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni young boy pushes a wheelbarrow loaded with plastic jerry cans as he arrives to fill them at a public tap at a slum in the capital Sanaa

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

Yemeni young boys carry plastic jerry cans as they arrive to fill them at a public tap at a slum in the capital Sanaa

In pictures: Yemen water crisis

Yemen

A Yemeni young boy carries a can as he arrives to fill it at a public tap at a slum in the capital Sanaa

In the video, a blindfolded man believed to be Mr Semple speaks with his head lowered, saying: "My name is Bob Semple. I am a British subject working in Yemen for a royal services company, Intracs Middle East Limited.

"Please, British or Yemen, please help me to get back to my family. I have been captive for seven months and my situation is not good. These guys are going to kill me, soon, I think."

The footage has still not been verified as authentic by British or foreign authorities.

Additional reporting by agencies

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