KOTA KINABALU: The three Pandanan hostages - Mohd Noor Sulaiman, Joe Joseph Ongkinoh and Kan Wei Chong returned to a hero's welcome yesterday evening.

The trio were garlanded by relatives, hugged and kissed soon after coming down from a van that ferried them from Terminal One to the old terminal at Tanjung Aru where a crowd of about 150 people were waiting.

"I love you, darling," were the first words that came out from the lips of resort manager Noor as he hugged his wife Siti @ Lakshmi, and grabbed hold of his two sons.

"Daddy has grown a beard," one of them shouted as tears streamed down Noor's face.

A few feet away, the Ongkinoh entourage unfurled a banner with the words "Welcome Home" and the tears flowed freely as they hugged one another with Joe taking centre stage.

It was a quiet scene for the Kan family, where his dad, and a couple of relatives waited solemnly.  Wei Cheong was seen embracing each one of them.

The three returned home on Malaysian Airlines flight MH703 from Manila.  The 737 aircraft touched down at the International Airport here just before 5pm.

After disembarking, the trio, together with Malaysianembassy officials from Manila, boarded the van to form a four-vehicle convoy to the old terminal.

There they were met by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Wilfred Bumburing, Minister of Community Development and Consumer Affairs Datuk Raymond Tan, Minister of Rural and Entrepreneurial Development Datuk Nasir Sakaran and a couple of assistant ministers.

Relatives and friends, as well as colleagues of Noor and Joe had gathered at the airport with posters and banners, as early as 4.00pm.

Outside the terminal, more friends waited.

The trio were examined by a team of medical personnel from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and were later taken to QEH for a more thorough check-up.

They are expected to be there overnight and should be allowed to go home to their respective families by noon today (Saturday).

They were taken hostage from Pandanan Island, off Semporna on Sept 10 and were finally rescued by the Philippines army on Wednesday morning.