On Wednesday, Philippine soldiers and policemen rescued Swiss-Filipino trader Charlie Reith from gunmen who had been holding him for more than two months in the southern Philippines. Reith was found in a makeshift hut at a coastal village in Zamboanga City.

He recounted the ordeal at a press conference on Wednesday.

[Charlie Reith, Rescued Trader]:
"It is a very trying and hard experience to go through something like that, especially in your life which is supposed to be in a sedentary state. As you know I'm a senior citizen, and for somebody in that age group to go through the ordeal of camping out on different sites, and walking and waiting for news from the outside world."

The abductors panicked and ran away when authorities stormed in.

The Swiss trader, who is a naturalized Filipino, was held for ransom by a group of bandits with ties to Islamist militant groups operating in the country’s south.

Having lost weight from his ordeal, Reith underwent a medical check-up after he was released. He suffers from diabetes and vertigo, and many feared he would not survive captivity.

[Charlie Reith, Rescued Trader]:
"When you're in a situation like that, I would say that the documentary of your life passes in front of your eyes -- what you have done, what should have been done, so forth. And that gives you a new insight on life. And it makes you want to stay alive and it wants you to come out of this stronger."

Reith was entertaining some German visitors at his beachfront home in Zamboanga City when gunmen broke up the party and dragged him to a boat on April. They initially demanded over a million dollars for his release.