Indian sailors, hijacked ship freed

Mumbai, March 22: Somali pirates on Sunday released 16 Indian sailors hijacked off the Somalian coast yesterday.
All the Indian crew members are safe, the Directorate General of Shipping said.
The vessel, MSV Al Rafiquei, which was hijacked at 10.30 hours on Saturday, was released at 18:30 hours Indian time, the Directorate said in a release.
Prior to the release, the hijackers beat up the crew and also took away their mobiles, five barrels of petrol and 20 barrels of diesel, it said.
The ship was travelling between Dubai and Mogadishu carrying rice, refined oil, wheat and general cargo.