Somali pirates free another Turkish cargo ship, crew safe

All crew members are in good health and the ship is navigating its way to safe international waters, Istanbul-based Isko Marine said.

The cargo ship and its crew of eight Ukrainians and three Turks were freed late Monday, Ecoterra International, an environmentalist organization that had been closely monitoring incidents of Somali piracy, reported earlier on Tuesday.

The Bosporus Prodigy, sailing under an Antigua and Barbuda flag of convenience, was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Dec. 15 and had been held off the coast of the northern semi-autonomous state of Puntland.

Armed Somali pirates in January had released two other Turkish ships, "M/V Yasa Neslihan" and "Karagol", in return for a ransom.

Piracy has soared off Somalia, which is caught up in an Islamic insurgency and has no functioning government. Somali pirates are still holding 14 foreign vessels and close to 250 seamen in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.