Somali pirates freed a Japanese chemical tanker and its crew on Thursday after a $1.6 million ransom was paid, a regional government official said.
The MT Irene was seized by gunmen on Aug. 21 as it travelled to India from France through the Gulf of Aden.
Somali gunmen have seized at least 30 vessels this year and attacked many more in the world's busiest and most dangerous shipping area connecting Europe to Asia and the Middle East.
"The pirates disembarked and the ship sailed away. Its 25 crew members are safe," Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, assistant fisheries minister for Somalia's northern region of Puntland, told Reuters, without elaborating.
In the highest profile incident in years, Somali gunmen are holding a Ukrainian ship loaded with tanks and other weaponry.
On Wednesday, an onshore associate of the pirates said an $8 million ransom deal was in the offing that might allow that ship to be freed within days.
The MV Faina has been held since the end of September with 20 crew on board. Its cargo includes 33 T-72 tanks which were en route to Kenya's Mombasa port.
Earlier this week, the U.N. Security Council again called for a joint naval operation against the pirates, who have reaped millions in ransoms this year and pushed up insurance costs.
Somalia has been mired in anarchy since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991.
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