Going home may sound mundane to people who do it as a daily routine, however, this was not the case for a group of 14 crewmen on a trawler in the Indian Ocean who returned home on Friday.
Several weeks ago, they had no idea whether they would survive or not as they were stranded on the Wadani 2 without any food. However, at Suvarnabhumi airport, the group realised what it meant to be back home.
"Today I get the most valuable thing in life," Songsak Temphon said. "I'm very lucky to come home."
The 58-year-old Sakon Nakhon resident burst into tears when his boat skipper Charoen Setaphan, on behalf of the fishermen, thanked Labour Minister MR Chatu Mongol Sonakul and other authorities yesterday for helping them.
They are the latest batch of fishing crew to return to Thailand, following 18 of their colleagues from another boat who arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport on Aug 12, also with the help of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The group was believed to have been sent to work overseas without permission from Thai labour officials.
The fishermen pointed the finger at employment broker Nithiwat Thiranantakul for allegedly arranging their trips to Iran, promising high salaries and later not delivering on that promise.
On one occasion, Mr Nithiwat phoned to thank the Thai crews when he learned that they caught a lot of fish, but "no-one wanted the thanks. We wanted our wages", said a fisherman, who did not want to be named.
He suspected some alleged irregularities were likely as many countries did not buy their catch.
"China refused to take it, as did Thailand which would not allow the boat to offload their catch," he said, adding. "There was probably something illegal involved."
Later he learned the trawler he was working on had been sold which made him feel uncertain about the future.
Only six Thai fishermen said they would continue working with their Iranian employer.
According to Mr Charoen, what seemed certain was a continuing cycle of awful jobs which required catching fish, freezing them, and repeating the process.