When Xia Wenqiong stepped down the ladder from a chartered plane and stood on the Wilson Airport in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Tuesday, she hardly believed that all the 11 days' nightmare is over.
Xia and other 28 Chinese were held on Jan. 28, when a group of gunmen belonging to the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) north sector attacked their camp of a Chinese company operating at a road construction site near Sudan's Al-Abbasiya Tagali Town in the volatile South Kordofan State.
The 29 Chinese had earlier boarded a plane chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Sudan shortly after being released by the rebels. They reached the Kenyan airport at around 5:35 p.m. local time.
The freed Chinese were welcomed by staff from the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi. After 11 days in captivity, they looked tired and exhausted.
"This morning they were brought to the airport without any information about what happened. When they saw two planes coming in, they realized there is hope and they can go," said Christoph Luedi, head of ICRC Regional Delegation at the airport.
"When they saw the Chinese people coming, speaking to them in their language, they were quite happy and they were happy to get some food and drinks on the plane. Of course some of them were really tired. They got some sleep on the plane," he added.
In Nairobi's Inter-continental Hotel where the workers were later escorted to, Xia and her colleagues had called their family back in China and assured them they were safe and sound.
"My husband picked up the phone and I told him I am safe now," the mother of a 10-year-old child said.
Having taken a shower and a good rest in the hotel, the refreshed Chinese workers received medical examination and treatment. After that, they went to the Chinese Embassy for a welcoming dinner reception.
When looking at the banner in embassy's dining hall, writing "Welcome Home", Sun Shiwei, another released Chinese, could barely hold his tear.
The 24-year-old translator said he had heard gun shots at that night and had no idea what happened. "I am scared and we stick together. I know we are not alone, our country will save us."
Another translator Ma Xiaolong was confident about his release. "We are backed by our motherland. We are lucky because we are Chinese."
Coming home seems the only wish for them at the moment, just as Xia put it, "I want to go back home as soon as possible."