Berlin, March 28: A gas tanker that was hijacked by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa in January was released on Saturday with all 13 crew members unharmed, a company that manages the vessel said.
The Longchamp was loaded with liquefied petroleum gas when it was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on January 29. It is registered in the Bahamas and managed by Hamburg-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.
The company said the ship was released at about 0600 GMT today. It had 12 Filipino crew members and an Indonesian second engineer on board.
Bernhard Schulte spokesman Cor Radings declined to comment on how the release was achieved.
A statement from the company said it "would like to thank the many parties, agencies and professionals involved for their outstanding efforts in achieving the safe release of the crew and vessel."
Radings declined to elaborate, and would not say what happened to the pirates. The ship was en route from Norway to Vietnam when it was hijacked, and the company said it would now head toward its original destination.
The management company said that it was taken down Somalia`s east coast after the hijacking.
Bureau Report
