Pierre Baldacchino, manager of St James Hospital, was reunited with his family this evening, two days after being released from the hands of kidnappers who abducted him on 15 December.

He arrived in Malta just in time to celebrate Christmas with his wife and two children.

Accompanying him on board the flight from Mitiga were Saint James Hospital chairman Josie Muscat and international director Jean Claude Muscat.

The return to Malta comes hours after a new video of his rescue was put online.

It shows members of the so-called Rada special forces climb over walls and storm a room where Mr Baldacchino, manager at Saint James Hospital in Tripoli, was held, with his hands bound.

The clip shows emotional scenes as he realised he was being rescued.

Mr Baldacchino then gives an account of how he was abducted and describes his rescuers as "angels".