Surf journalist Michael Scott Moore has been freed in Somalia after being abducted for nearly three years by an armed militia in Somalia.
The author of "Sweetness and Blood: How Surfing Spread from Hawaii and California to the Rest of the World, with Some Unexpected Results" is in good health, despite living 33 months in the hands of pirates.
Moore, 45, has already traveled to Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, and local authorities confirmed he was "overjoyed to be free", and in good physical and psychological condition.
The German-American journalist was abducted on the 21st January, 2012, near the city of Galkayo. He was working on a book about piracy.
It is not clear if a $1.6 million ransom has been paid. In May 2012, the pirates released a YouTube video threatening to sell him to an Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group if a ransom wasn't paid.
"We never gave up hope and are now rejoicing with Michael and his family that this nightmare has finally come to an end," says Wolfgang Buchner, editor-in-chief at Der Spiegel, a German newspaper for which Moore worked.