Somali pirates release cargo ship after three months

Somali pirates have released a Panama-flagged cargo ship Al Khalil with 22 Indian and two Burmese crew, after more than three months.

A ransom payment is understood to have been made by the vessel operator.

"Somali pirates released the hijacked vessel Al Khalil having 22 Indian and two Burmese on Tuesday," National Union of Seafarers of India's general secretary, Abdulgani Y Serang, told PTI today.

The cargo vessel was seized late last October on the west of the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean.

Piracy is rife in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden off the war-torn East African nation of Somalia despite patrolling by naval fleets of several countries.