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NAIROBI--Somali pirates have released a Japanese chemical tanker and its 22 crew members seized two months ago in the Gulf of Aden, a Kenyan maritime official said on Sunday.
The Hong Kong-flagged Stolt Valor -- with 18 Indians, two Filipinos, a Russian and Bangladeshi -- was seized in the region on September 15, said Andrew Mwangura who runs the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme.
"The ship was released on Saturday," he told AFP.
A ransom of $1.1 million was paid, he told Reuters.
The ship is registered in Panama to Ocean Carrier Transit, which owns 12 other freighters, although the beneficial owner is Japan’s Central Marine, the official said.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, at least 83 ships have been attacked off Somalia since January, of which 33 were hijacked. Of those, 12 vessels and more than 200 crew were still in the hands of pirates.
Last week, the European Union launched a security operation off the coast of Somalia -- its first-ever naval mission -- to combat growing acts of piracy and protect ships carrying aid agency deliveries.
Dubbed Operation Atalanta, the mission, endorsed by the bloc's defense ministers at talks in Brussels, is being led by Britain, with its headquarters in Northwood, near London.
Pirates are well organized in the area where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which an estimated 30 percent of the world's oil transits.
They operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.
NATO warships, along with ships and aircraft from several other nations have been deployed in the region to protect commercial shipping.
