After a two-month ordeal in Somali waters, the hijacked cargo ship MT Stolt Valor with 18 Indian sailors on board has been freed after negotiations and payment of an unspecified amount of ransom to Somali pirates. A Reuters report from Nairobi quoted Andrew Mwangura, Director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, as saying Stolt Valor was released last night after pirates received a $1.1 million ransom.

The cargo ship, owned by a Japanese company and managed by Fleet Marine Ltd in Mumbai, is now awaiting safe passage in the Gulf of Aden where the Indian Navy is already deployed to keep pirates out. It was hijacked on September 15.

National Union of Seafarers of India general secretary Abdul Gani confirmed that the ship has been released. “The very sign that the ship has been released means that the negotiations have been concluded and the Japanese owners have paid the ransom amount,” Gani said without specifying the sum paid.

Gani, who had gone to Hong Kong for negotiations on the release of the ship carrying 23,818 tonnes of oil products, said they have not been able to get in touch with the crew on board as the satellite communication was not working. He said “everything will be cleared in a day or two”and they “will then decide whether the crew will come directly to Mumbai or not”.