Somali pirates have released 21 Indian sailors aboard the ship MV Fairchem Bogey, which was hijacked last August, India’s Directorate General of Shipping said on Sunday.
“All the 21 sailors are safe and the ship is now on its way to a safe port," Director General of Shipping S. B. Agnihotri was quoted by the Indian media as saying.
The Marshall Island-flagged Fairchem Bogey, a chemicals-oil tanker, was hijacked from the Salalah port anchorage off the coast of Oman in August.
Some media reports have said a ransom was paid to release the Indian sailors but Agnihotri refused to comment on the information.
Piracy has surged off the Horn of Africa in recent years, especially off the east African nation of Somalia, which has had no functioning central government for two decades.
