WEST African pirates have released the 35,070 dwt tanker Cape Bird with its 20 crew members unharmed after five days of captivity off the coast of Nigeria, according to the magazine, Tanker Operator of London.
It's not known whether a ransom was paid, or if any of the tanker's oil cargo had been taken.
The vessel was seized on October 8, and according to the magazine which cited Associated Press, the pirates were apparently targeting its cargo.
Hamburg-based Columbia Shipmanagement told AP that the pirates left the Cape Bird on October 13 and allowed the crew to sail the vessel to safety from an area 90 miles off Lagos where they were being held.
The hijacking is one of the latest in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea. Over the last eight months, piracy in the region has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts, AP said.
In August, London-based Lloyd's Market Association, an umbrella group of insurers, listed Nigeria, neighbouring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia.