THE Algerian military did a "bloody good job", a survivor of the Sahara hostage crisis says.
Peter Hunter, 53, from Durham in England, was reunited with wife Kerry on Monday after he spent days in hiding at a secret location at the sprawling plant.
Speaking at his local pub where he sipped a cup of coffee, the BP construction supervisor said: "The Algerian authorities and military did a bloody good job.
"You have a bunch of raving lunatics killing people randomly.
"People laid down their lives for this.
"Everybody will have a different opinion about the army and the special forces but what they did for me - I have no complaints."
He was struck dumb when he was finally able to ring his wife on a satellite phone to tell her he was safe on Saturday.
"Nothing came out when I opened my mouth," he said.
"As soon as I heard Kerry's voice, my words were garbled.
"I told her I was OK, that I was safe and I was using a satellite phone."
Kerry Hunter, 41, was warned by UK police the phone call may have been staged, and the terrorists had forced him to tell her he was all right.
It was only in a follow-up call five hours later that Hunter seemed his cheerful self again, that she was convinced he was safe.
They were finally reunited at a snowy Newcastle Airport after a long journey back from Algeria, via Gatwick and a three-hour debrief.
Hunter, a father-of-four who worked four weeks on and four weeks off at the plant, never saw any terrorists during the crisis, nor any casualties.
He followed company procedure and hid in a secret location, having stocked up with water.
He first knew of any incident when he saw red tracer fire come over the top of one of the buildings within the site before dawn on Wednesday.
About 10 minutes after the initial fire, Hunter said all the lights went out, pitching the site into darkness.
Hunter said he stayed calm in his hiding place, dressed in local garb, dozing, trying to conserve water and mobile phone battery.
Local workers knew his general location and would occasionally come with updates on what was happening.
There was no dramatic rescue, just the sound of voices from local liaison workers who were with Algerian soldiers who swiftly convinced the expats they were safe.
He shared wine gums his wife had packed with his saviours - even though they were joking that as Muslims they should not eat the sweets in case they had alcohol in them.
Hunter was taken to a military camp nearby.
"They were concerned we would be overcome by shock," he said.
"They assured us they were the real thing and not someone in disguise.
"We were greeted by every kind of major, colonel and general. They were all very helpful, nice people and very apologetic."
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