French hostage freed in Mali says detention was 'spiritual retreat'

AA 75-year-old French aid worker says she was treated relatively well during her four years as a hostage and compared her detention to a "spiritual retreat", reports Sky News.

Sophie Pétronin and three other captives have been released by Islamic militants in Mali.

She told reporters that praying helped her get through her ordeal - and she said she wants to return to her humanitarian work helping underfed children.

"I hung on - I prayed a lot because I had a lot of time," she said at the French embassy in Bamako before boarding a flight back to France with her middle-aged son.

Read more of this report from Sky News.