Mexican footballer Pulido untied himself, fought kidnappers

Mexican football player Alan Pulido was rescued after he untied himself, fought one of his kidnappers and took away his phone to call police hours after his abduction, authorities said Monday.

Pulido, 25, cut his right wrist when he punched a glass pane on a door as he tried to flee before police saved him at a home in his northeastern hometown of Ciudad Victoria late Sunday, Tamaulipas state prosecutor Ismael Quintanilla said.

Pulido, who plays for Greek giants Olympiakos and was part of Mexico's 2014 World Cup squad, was kidnapped late Saturday by four armed men as he returned from a party with his girlfriend in the crime-plagued region.

The woman was allowed to leave, while Pulido was taken to a two-story house, where he eventually unbound his hands and found himself alone with one of his abductors on the first floor, Quintanilla said.

"They traded blows. (The phone) belonged to the criminal. He takes it and calls (emergency number) 066," Quintanilla told Imagen radio.

"It all happened very quickly."

The police swooped in within minutes and detained one suspect.

When officers heard the glass break, "they thought it was gunshots or something, and he thought that it was the other (kidnappers) who were coming back," the prosecutor said.

Pulido had a bandage around his right hand when he appeared briefly at a news conference in the early hours of Monday.

Wearing a multicolor sleeveless shirt and shorts as he stood alongside Governor Egidio Torre Cantu, Pulido told reporters that he was "very well, very well, thank God."

Officials said the injury was not serious.

Pulido later took to Twitter to thank the authorities for their help and to people for their prayers, which "helped us a lot during this terrible experience in our lives which we don't wish upon anyone."

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