Somali pirates have freed a British-owned ship which they had captured more than a month ago with 16 Bulgarian crew on board after its Italian operator paid a ransom, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said.
"The demands of the hijackers were met and the ship has been freed," Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Milen Keremedchiev said. He did not give details about the size of the ransom.
The 32,000-tonne bulker named as Malaspina Castle was hijacked on April 6th. Bulgarian government officials have said the ship had a total of 24 crew members, including several Russians, Ukrainians and Filipinos.
Mr Keremedchiev said all of the crew members were in good health. He refused to give any other information.
Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, based in Mombasa, Kenya, confirmed the release.
Despite an unprecedented international naval deployment to deter them, Somali pirates continue marauding in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden waters off their coast.
In the latest seizure, a small Dutch vessel with eight crew members on board was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, a regional maritime group had said.
Pirates are holding about 20 ships with nearly 300 hostages, according to regional piracy monitoring groups and the London-based International Maritime Bureau.