Nairobi, Kenya, 19 March 2008 - A British captain who was held hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia for 46 days was released yesterday, along with his Irish chief engineer and four Russian crew members.

The captain of the Danish-owned Svitzer Korsakov, who has yet to be named, and his crew were said to be "safe and healthy". After being released yesterday he was back in charge of his vessel, steering to a port in the Gulf under escort from coalition naval forces - a journey which is estimated to take three days. From there the hostages will be flown home to be reunited with their families.

Somali officials claimed a $700,000 (£346,000) ransom was paid for the release of the hostages by the ship's owner, Svitzer, but a company spokesman said yesterday he would not comment on the negotiations. Pat Adamson said: "As there have been a growing number of attacks on merchant ships over the past two years and an increase in the incidence of violent attacks, Svitzer believes it would be irresponsible and imprudent to provide details of the ongoing dialogue with the hijackers over the course of this incident, or to release details of the operational issues involved. Any such details provided in the public domain would, we believe, encourage would-be pirates and add further danger to the victims of such attacks."

Ahmed Said Aw-Nur, the fisheries and ports minister in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of north-east Somalia, criticised the ransom payment "because it can encourage more piracy". He said the ship was freed after its owner "negotiated with the criminals and paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for ransom".

The Irish chief engineer has been named as 68-year-old father-of-four Fred Parle who is said to have come out of retirement to do one last job, delivering the 115-foot Korsakov from St Petersburg to Sakhalin Island, between north-west Japan and Russia, where it would have been servicing the oil and gas fields.

The crew's ordeal began on February 1 when the ship was attacked by pirates as it was sailing 60 nautical miles north of the Cape of Caluula, in the Gulf of Aden on the northern coast of Somalia. After boarding the vessel pirates forced the captain to change the course of the tug, taking it down the east coast of Somaliland where it was anchored offshore, close to Eyl. Last month Somali troops fired on the vessel in an attempt to force the pirates to give up the hostages but the attack failed.

Crucial shipping lanes pass through Somali waters, allowing ships carrying oil, gas, and even tourists from the Indian Ocean into the Red Sea. In 2005 there were 47 incidents of piracy, including a foiled attack on the cruise ship the Seabourn Spirit, with 22 British tourists on board.

Pirates seized more than two dozen ships off the Somali coast last year.