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With his weather-beaten face creasing into smiles, 30-year-old fisherman Zhang Leilei said he felt "reborn" the moment he arrived in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon after more than 570 days at the mercy of Somali pirates.

Zhang was among 26 rescued crew members of the Xu Fu 1 trawler, a Taiwan ship with 13 fishermen from the Chinese mainland, one from Taiwan and 12 from Vietnam.

The boat was hijacked by Somali pirates in late December, 2010, off the Madagascar coast and forced to Somalia.

The fishermen told reporters they felt helpless and survived on meager rations, often less than a meal a day, during their 19-month captivity.

They were released and picked up by the navy last week.

Zhang was in no doubt as to what he would do once he got home. "I will kneel in front of my father and pay my respects. We haven't seen each other for around five years."

Zhang signed a contract with a local company to work as a sailor for a Taiwan company in July 2007 to earn more money to support his rural family.

Zhang Qian, 56, Zhang's mother, told China Daily, from her home in Ruzhou in Henan province, that she felt "the sky had collapsed" when she heard that her son had been kidnapped by pirates two years ago.

Her relief was obvious but so too was the concern and worry of the past two years.

She only received two phone calls from her son during his captivity.

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