Chemical tanker set free by Somali pirates

Somali pirates have released a chemical tanker they captured in November with crew members from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program said on Tuesday.The chemical tanker Theresa VIII and the 28 DPRK crew members were already free, an official from the agency said, without saying if any ransom had been paid.Somali pirates hijacked a Kenyan-flagged fishing vessel last week with 16 crew members on board in the Indian Ocean.Hijackings off the coast of East Africa are a cause of growing international concern, spurring a number of international navies to patrol the pirate-wracked Gulf of Aden.Hundreds of other people remain hostage aboard hijacked ships in the Gulf of Aden and its surrounding seas.An estimated 25,000 ships annually cruise the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's northern coast ..Source: Xinhua