Somali pirates freed on Sunday a Comoros-flagged cargo ship owned by businessmen from the United Arab Emirates and held for six weeks with a 22-man crew since its capture off Mogadishu, a regional maritime group said.
"According to information we have received, the ship has been released," Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters of the Al Marjan, citing shipping sources in the area.
"They must have paid a ransom. They cannot be released so easily if not. But we don't have full details yet." Mwangura said he thought the Al Marjan would come to Kenya's Mombasa port, from where it headed to Mogadishu with general cargo before being seized 10 nautical miles offshore on October 21.
"Since she was hijacked, there were no communications at all. It is a relief she's free," said Mwangura, whose Mombasa-based group seeks to help sailors in the region and is a key source of information on piracy.
The crew were mainly Indian nationals, added Mwangura. Piracy has been rife off Somalia since it plunged into anarchy with the 1991 fall of a dictator.