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Hijacked Greek cargo ship released after month

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ATHENS, April 15 (RIA Novosti) - Somali pirates have released the Titan, a Greek-owned cargo ship with a crew of 24 on board, which was hijacked on March 19, Greece's merchant marine ministry told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

The Titan, sailing under the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, set sail from a Black Sea port bound for South Korea with a cargo of iron when it was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden.

"The ship owners have told us that the ship and crew have been freed, but we do not have any further details yet," the ministry said.

There was no information as to whether a ransom had been paid.

Another Greek cargo ship, the MV Irene, was en route from Jordan to India when it was seized on Tuesday by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. There is no information on the condition of the 22 crewmembers on board, all of them Filipinos.

A Norwegian-owned chemical tanker seized by Somali pirates on March 26, the Bow Asir, with 27 crewmembers - a Norwegian captain and Russian first officer, as well as 19 Filipinos, five Poles, and one Lithuanian - was released last week after the owners paid a ransom, the Norway Post newspaper said, adding that the pirates had demanded $2.4 million.

According to the UN, Somali pirates carried out at least 120 attacks on ships in 2008, resulting in combined ransom payouts of around $150 million.

Around 20 warships from the navies of at least 10 countries, including Russia, are involved in anti-piracy operations off Somalia. The East African country, ravaged by years of civil war, has no functioning government.

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