Crew of the hijacked Norwegian ship is released and united with their families in the Philippines.

Nine crew members were kidnapped from a Norwegian vessel out of Benin about a month ago, has been released by captors.

the Sailors, all of whom are filipinos, were kidnapped from the ship "MV Bonita". They are released and in safety, it shall notify the Norwegian søfartsforbund.

The nine filipinos were abducted by suspected pirates the 2. november in the vicinity of Benin's largest city, Cotonou.

the Shipping company Ugland has released photos of the released, where they are reunited with their families.

The circumstances around the release of the sailors has not been published.

According to the shipping company went the pirates on board the ship early on the morning of the 2. november, while it was anchored off the coastal town of Cotonou. "MV Bonita" is 189 metres long.

The abducted persons were the captain and eight of his crew. The other crew was unharmed and was back on the ship, while the pirates brought the abductees to an unknown place.

J. J. Ugland is based in the harbour town of Grimstad in the southern part of Norway.

the Attack on the ships and bortføring of seamen, of charging løsesummer has become more and more usually out of Benin and the Nigerian coast.

Hijackings is causing major problems for international shipping in the area.

A græskejet tanker was attacked by pirates off Nigeria on 3. december, and 19 crew members were abducted.

the Ship was attacked about 77 nautical miles from the island of Bonny on Tuesday, where its crew were kidnapped.

In shippingindustrien, there has in recent months been made several warnings about the growing danger of piracy attacks off west africa - in particular, out of Nigeria.

/ritzau/NTB