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A group of sailors who were held hostage by Somali pirates for nearly five years survived in part by eating rats.

Filipino sailor Arnel Balbero said they were also only given small amounts of water and felt like “the walking dead” by the end of their ordeal. The 26 sailors were seized on board their ship in 2012 and were eventually taken to Somalia.

They were freed on Saturday, reportedly after a ransom was paid. The sailors were from China, the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Mr Balbero was among the crew of the FV Naham 3 when it was captured by Somali pirates south of the Seychelles. One crew member was killed during the capture, according to non-governmental organisation Oceans Beyond Piracy. A year later, the ship sank and the crew were brought onshore in Somalia. Two sailors subsequently died of illnesses. Mr Balbero said that the last four and a half years had left him and his compatriots “like walking dead”.

Asked how the pirates treated them, he said: “They give us small amount of water only… We eat rat. Yes, we cook it in the forest.” “[We] just eat anything, anything. You feel hungry, you eat.”

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Three French defence officials and two other people died when a surveillance plane crashed shortly after take-off at Malta International Airport.

The light aircraft was setting off on a mission over the Mediterranean around 07:20 (05:20 GMT) when it nose-dived and disintegrated in a ball of flames. There was no explosion prior to the crash, according to eyewitnesses.

Malta said the flight had been part of a French operation to track illicit trafficking of people and drugs. An investigation into the causes of the crash is to be conducted by the French defence ministry.

The airport has re-opened with some disruption expected to the day’s scheduled flights.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed that three of the victims were ministry staff while the other two were contractors. Early reports that the victims had been officials from the EU’s border agency were quickly denied. Frontex said none of its staff had been involved. The Maltese government said the flight had been due to return to the island within hours without landing in third countries.

Eyewitnesses told the Times of Malta the plane had taken off before turning on its side and going “straight down into the ground”. Eyewitness Ed de Gaetano said: “Our plane was just about to take off, and there was a massive explosion on the right hand side of the plane. “It’s pretty scary, a lot of commotion in the plane and everyone was wondering what was going on.”

Video shot from another plane at the airport shows flames and thick black smoke billowing from the site of the crash, next to the runway.

All of the victims’ remains have been found, the Maltese government said.

Home webcams that were hijacked to help knock popular websites offline last week are being recalled in the US.

Chinese electronics firm Hangzhou Xiongmai issued the recall soon after its cameras were identified as aiding the massive web attacks. They made access to popular websites, such as Reddit, Twitter, Spotify and many other sites, intermittent. Security experts said easy-to-guess default passwords, used on Xiongmai webcams, aided the hijacking.

The web attack enrolled thousands of devices that make up the internet of things – smart devices used to oversee homes and which can be controlled remotely.

In a statement, Hangzhou Xiongmai said hackers were able to take over the cameras because users had not changed the devices’ default passwords. Xiongmai rejected suggestions that its webcams made up the bulk of the devices used in the attacks. “Security issues are a problem facing all mankind,” it said. “Since industry giants have experienced them, Xiongmai is not afraid to experience them once, too.”

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Islamic State (IS) militants have mounted a ferocious counter-attack in north Iraq, killing at least 19 people in and around the city of Kirkuk.

They attacked government buildings, killing at least six police officers, and a power station under construction, where 13 employees died, officials say. Twelve IS fighters also reportedly died and fighting seems to be continuing.

Government and Kurdish forces began a long-awaited operation against the IS capital in Iraq, Mosul, on Monday. Mosul lies 170km (105 miles) to the north-west of Kirkuk, a multi-ethnic city claimed both by Iraq’s central government and the Kurds.

Government forces said on Friday they had regained control of a further two villages – al-Awaizat and Nanaha – south of Mosul, evacuating 65 displaced families and killing 15 IS militants. Hours after the initial assault, witnesses in Kirkuk said gunfire could still be heard and militants were walking openly through the streets. Initial reports suggested as many as 16 civilians had been killed.

Local media say a state of emergency has been declared and Friday sermons have been cancelled as mosques remain closed. A news agency affiliated to IS said fighters had broken into Kirkuk’s city hall and seized a central hotel but officials denied this.

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An Australian football coach who was kidnapped in Yemen has appeared in a video saying his captors demand the Australian government pay a ransom to secure his release.

In the footage released online, 56-year-old Craig Bruce McAllister said he was kidnapped by an unnamed group.

Australia said on Wednesday it was aware one of its nationals had been kidnapped in the country. It has previously said it does not pay ransom money.

Yemen is engulfed in a war between forces backing President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and Houthi rebels.

Mr McAllister is believed to have lived in Yemen for about six years, where he was coaching a youth football team in the capital, Sanaa. In the 24-second video, Mr McAllister, who appears unharmed, says he was “kidnapped by a group here”. “They are requesting that the Australian government send the money they have requested.” But no ransom amount was disclosed and no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

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