TEHRAN (AFP) — Pirates released an Iranian ship that had been hijacked off the Somali coast in August, state news agency IRNA reported on Friday.
"The ship Dianat was released on Friday morning after seven weeks of ... negotiations with Somali pirates," the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines said in statement carried by the agency.
"All 29 members of the crew are safe and sound and the ship is sailing towards international waters," it said.
The report did not say whether ransom was paid.
The merchant vessel was headed from China to the Netherlands carrying minerals and industrial products when it was hijacked on August 21 along with a German and a Japanese ship off the Gulf of Aden.
The waters off Somalia and Nigeria are the most pirate-infested in the world.
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