A German gas tanker seized by Somali pirates two months ago has been freed and is on its way to its original destination of Vietnam, the owners said on Saturday.
The MV Longchamp, captured on January 29, was released with its crew of 12 Filipinos and their Indonesian captain at around 0600 GMT, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said in a statement.
The crew were safe and sound, the statement said, without confirming whether a ransom had been paid. The pirates had been demanding 4.7 million euros (6.25 million dollars) for the Longchamp.
An environment watchdog that also monitors piracy, Ecoterra International, said on Friday that an unknown sum of money had been delivered by aircraft to the pirates.
The Longchamp was hijacked at dawn in a hail of gunfire by seven pirates despite being under navy escort with its cargo of liquefied petroleum gas on its way to Vietnam from Norway, reports said at the time.
Ransom-hunting Somali pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the region last year, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
The number and success rate of pirate attacks has declined slightly since the start of the year, because of unfavourable sea conditions and an increased foreign naval presence in the Gulf of Aden.
Source: AFP
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