The Somali pirates who hijacked a vessel laden with food aid off the northeastern coast of Somalia 11 weeks ago have released it with all crew on Wednesday, World Food Program (WFP) confirmed here Thursday.

"The vessel together with the crew have been released and are expected to arrive in northern Mogadishu port of Elmaan in three to five days," WFP spokesperson Rene McGuffin told Xinhua by telephone.

The crew consists of eight Kenyans, a Tanzanian engineer and a Sri Lankan captain.

McGuffin said the UN food agency had negotiated with Elmaan port authorities through the Somalia Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to guarantee the free passage of food to the central region.

According to the spokesperson, it was agreed that the food consignment would be handed over to the TFG in Elmaan to be distributed to communities in central regions of Somalia.

"The food will be off-loaded at Elmaan port, north of Mogadishu and handed over to TFG after the arrival of the vessel in the next three or five days," said McGuffin.

The MV Semlow which was chartered by WFP was hijacked on June 27 between Haradhere and Hobyo, some 400 km northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, on its way to the Gulf of Aden port of Bossaso, in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.

The vessel had been chartered by the WFP to deliver some 850 tons of rice to survivors of the December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated much of the country's northeastern coastline.

Despite the ship capture, WFP said it managed to send some shipments of food to Somalia in the past weeks to ensure that its operations in the country would continue and the hungry would not suffer because of the hijacking.

Some 28,000 people who lost their homes and livelihoods when the tsunami struck on December 26 are being fed by the United Nations.

Somalia is awash with some 60,000 militia men and has been without a functioning national government since 1991, which hampered relief efforts to tsunami victims.

In July, the International Maritime Board warned of a surge in piracy in the region and advised vessels to stay at least 85 km away from the lawless coast if possible.

The WFP hijacking was the sixth reported piracy incident in Somali waters since March.

Source: Xinhua