THE HAGUE (AFP) — A cargo ship seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia in late May has been released, with its Russian and Filipino crew members all safe and well, the ship's operators said Wednesday.
"Reider Shipping and Scan-Trans are pleased to confirm that the master and crew on board the Amiya Scan, held off the coast of Somalia by hijackers since May 25, have assumed command of the vessel," the two firms said.
"All crew members are well and unharmed," they added in a statement. "Families of the four Russian and five Philippine crew members have all been informed."
The Amiya Scan -- which was carrying a disassembled oil platform when it was captured in the Gulf of Aden -- now is "under way in the direction of Suez," although it might be another week "before the crew reach a safe port".
The ship -- which had set off from the Kenyan port of Mombasa on May 19, bound for Constata in Romania -- had been in pirate hands for 31 days before its release Monday evening.
Somalia's waters are among the most pirate-infested in the world. Nations worldwide have issued warnings against sailing too close to its shore.
Reider Shipping and Scan-Trans refused to say whether any ransom had been paid, stating that details of "dialogue with the hijackers... could, we believe, encourage would-be pirates".
But Scan-Trans director Lars Juhl said: "International diplomatic support, and restraint, contributed to the solution."
More than 25 ships came under attack from pirates off Somalia last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
On June 2 the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorising foreign warships to enter Somalia's territorial waters with the Somali government's consent to combat piracy and armed robbery at sea.
In Berlin, the German foreign ministry said Wednesday that two Germans were on a yacht seized two days earlier off the Somali coast.
Officials in the Somali region of Puntland had said Tuesday that four foreign tourists -- two men, one woman and a child -- were seized on the vessel.
In April, Somali pirates seized the French luxury yacht Ponant and held its 30 crew members for a week. French special forces swooped on the pirates after their captives were freed, nabbing six and retrieving some of the ransom paid.
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