All the 164 Chinese sailors from 26 boats had returned home by Sunday afternoon after being stranded in northern Thailand following a deadly cargo ship attack two weeks ago, Chinese authorities said.

Thirteen Chinese sailors were confirmed dead after two cargo ships, the Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8, were attacked and hijacked by an unknown group of armed men on October 5 on the Mekong River.

Out of safety concerns, 164 sailors had been living aboard 26 ships on the Mekong River in Chiang Saen in Thailand following the attack.

Under the escort of a Chinese police patrol ship, the first group of 11 cargo boats with 78 sailors left Chiang Saen for China and arrived at the Guanlei Port in the Dai Autonomous Prefecture of Xishuangbanna in the southwestern province of Yunnan on October 16.

The final group of 21 sailors from four boats arrived at the same port on Sunday afternoon, according to an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meng Jianzhu, State Councilor and Minister of Public Security, on Sunday urged relevant governments to get to the bottom of the attack and catch the assailants as soon as possible.

The Mekong River, known in China as the Lancang River, rises on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam before spilling into the South China Sea. It plays a crucial economic role throughout the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2011)