The French hostage held for 11 months in Nigeria by the Boko Haram sect said he managed to escape after the kidnapper left a key in the door by mistake.
Francis Collomp, revealed this on the TF1 channel on Thursday, November 16.
“While he was in the bathroom, very quietly I opened the closed door. I had all my things ready to leave and then I locked it (behind me),” a 63-year-old engineer said.
“I ran into an alley towards the main road, then on the road I started walking quickly so that no one would notice me,” he added.
Then, after trekking some 4-5 kilometers, he found a motorcycle taxi. The cab rushed him to the police station in a nearby town Zaria.
Collomp also disclosed information about negotiations regarding his release,
“I should have been freed in June but that didn’t happen. Then they told me that things had hit a dead end. I also knew the story of the journalists that were killed, and that had an effect on me,” he said, referring to the two French radio correspondents kidnapped and murdered by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali on November 2.
According to Collomp, he had planned his escape for a months: he would walk 15 km per day in circles in his cell in order to stay fit, anticipating a long walk awaiting him outside.
It was learn, that the man lost 38 kilos in total.
French President Francois Hollande compared Collomp’s escape to “an adventure story” on the day of his return to France, saying he was proud of his compatriot and his “exceptional courage.