CAIRO: Two Egyptian fishing boats returned home with 34 fishermen and eight captured pirates on board on Sunday, after having been seized by Somali pirates for five months.

The two boats, Momtaz 1 and Samra were welcomed by thousands of chanting and singing Egyptian people who gathered in the coastal city of Suez.

"The pirates treated us badly during the five months as they fed us with rotten rice and hot water," local Nile TV quoted one of the fishermen as saying.

"We managed to get some of their guns while they were sleeping, and freed our boats in a 15-minute battle," he added.

The eight Somali pirates caught by the Egyptian fishermen will be tried in Egypt according to the International Law.

Piracy has become rampant off the coast of Africa, especially in the waters near Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991. Ransoms started in tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into millions.

An estimated total of 25,000 ships annually cruise the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's northern coast.