The owner of the hijacked Egyptian fishing vessel whose crew overcame their captors received a hero's welcome earlier this week as he returned to Cairo from Yemen.
Hassan Khalil, the owner of 'Momtaz 1', orchestrated the escape plan using a ransom as bait for the pirates.
Mr Khalil's vessel and another vessel, 'Ahmed Samara' were hijacked four months ago and the 33 crew were taken captive.
According to AP, the rescue mission occurred off Las Qorey, along the Gulf of Aden. Mr Khalil signalled to his crew to distract the pirates while hired Somali gunmen boarded the vessel to confront the pirates.
The vessel was sailing into the Suez Canal when eight pirates boarded it.
"We lived terrible moments," Mr Khalil told reporters at Cairo Airport. "We expected to die many times when gun fire was exchanged with the pirates."