Somali pirates have released the MV Sward and its 17-member crew after holding the ship for months, security sources in Somalia’s Puntland region told AFP.
The sources said a ransom was paid, but did not say how much.
The ship was released near Garacad, a port in Puntland. Pirates hijacked it off the Somali coast on April 26. The crew includes 15 Syrian nationals and two Indian nationals.
The MV Sward was also used by the pirates to capture other vessels. These included two Iranian fishing boats and the Cameroon-flagged cargo ship MV Lutuf.
Piracy has increased again off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The International Maritime Organisation has recorded at least 15 attacks in the region this year, the highest number since 2013.
A Puntland security source told AFP that the crew was still on board when the MV Sward was released near Garacad.
The pirates left the ship and went to
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