Somali pirates free Spanish boat

Somali pirates have released a Spanish trawler and its 36 crew members after holding it for six weeks, Spain's prime minister has confirmed.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that the pirates had abandoned the Alakrana and all 36 members of the tuna boat's crew were "safe and sound".

The pirates earlier told reporters they were leaving the ship after being promised a ransom of $3.5m (£2.1m).

There was no immediate government confirmation of money having been paid.

"I can confirm that the Alakrana fishing trawler is sailing freely towards safer waters and that all of its crew members are safe and sound," a smiling Mr Zapatero told a news conference in Madrid.

The Spanish prime minister did not comment on the ransom reports.

In other developments

• Pirates seized the MV Theresa VIII, a chemical tanker with a crew of 28 North Koreans in waters off Somalia on Monday, the EU's naval force (Navfor) said

• Navfor guards aboard a Ukrainian cargo ship, the MV Lady Juliet, successfully fought off pirates in the Gulf of Aden, also on Monday

Basque Country port

The Alakrana was hijacked last month along with its crew of 36, including 16 Spaniards, eight Indonesians and others from Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Senegal and the Seychelles.

The trawler, which is based in the Spanish Basque Country, was seized 400 nautical miles (740km) north-west of the Seychelles island of Mahe, according to coast guards.

Pirate spokesmen who spoke by telephone to news agencies earlier on Tuesday said they were receiving a ransom of between $3.5m and $4m from the Spanish government.

Contacted before the vessel was released, Alakrana skipper Ricardo Blach told Spanish radio that 63 pirates were aboard the trawler at one stage, including the leaders of the clan behind the hijacking.

Somali pirates, using "mother ships" to launch their small-boat attacks on vessels, have extended their range to an area off the Seychelles in recent months in order to evade the navies patrolling the Horn of Africa.

More than 10 ships and 200 hostages are currently being held by pirates operating in waters off Somalia.

Many of the pirates began as fishermen and say they are stopping illegal foreign fishing boats stealing Somali fish, BBC international development correspondent Mark Doyle reports.

The upsurge in piracy in the region is a consequence of the failure to find a solution to Somalia's political disputes, our correspondent notes.

The weak central government faces an Islamist insurgency and parts of the country have broken away to form autonomous regions.