INDONESIAN trawlers that enslaved hundreds of migrant fishermen for years carried more than 300 of them to freedom on Saturday.

After 17 hours overnight at sea, the men, mostly from Myanmar, took their first steps of freedom.

They filed off the boats and walked to the site of their new temporary home where they were finally safe.

The men were among hundreds of migrant workers lured or tricked into leaving their countries to go to Thailand, from where they were taken to the Indonesian Aru Islands and enslaved.

After arriving on the island of Tual on Saturday afternoon, those who were sick or injured were offered medical care by paramedics.

Myanma officials are set to visit the islands next week and will assist with bringing the men home and locating others who are still trapped.

The International Organisation for Migration has said there could be as many as 4,000 men stranded on the Aru Islands.