At least five Somali pirates have drowned after their boat capsized off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation, according to agencies' reports on Saturday.

The pirates have set free a Saudi supertanker Sirius Star in the Gulf of Aden which was hijacked two months ago and gained a ransom of reported about US$3 million. However, their boat with eight people capsized in a storm off the coast, leading to the five deaths, the reports said.

The Saudi super-tanker was abducted in mid November off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation and released by the pirates, a pirate member said on Friday.

"We have let the Sirius Star and its crew free and all our menare on land," Mohamed Abdullah, a member of the pirate group that held the Saudi oil tanker told Xinhua by phone from the central Somali port town of Harardhere.

He did not rule out taking ransom in exchange for the release of the giant oil tanker that was laden with 2 million barrels of crude oil and had been destined to the United States before it was hijacked by Somali pirates on November 15.

Other sources in Harardhere said that the pirates set the ship free after receiving nearly US$3 million after weeks of negotiations with ship owners and operators.

The Sirius Star was hijacked about 780 kilometers off Somalia in the Indian Ocean and was carrying 25 crew members. The ship wassailing under a Liberian flag and its 25-member crew include citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's Coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program based in Mombasa, east Kenya, said earlier Friday the Sirius Star started moving away from the coast since Thursday.

"The Sirius Star has been moving slowly since Thursday. This means the vessel might have been freed by the Somali pirates on Thursday," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone.

"The vessel which has been moving away from the coast since Thursday is heading towards southeast. The vessel might have been released and the ship owners might have paid US$3 million ransom but I'm not certain about this (ransom)," said Mwangura.

Sirius Star is the largest ship pirates have hijacked along the east Africa coast. The incident raised international concerns of the escalating piracy activities off the coast of the war-torn east African nation.

Most attacks have been in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and north Somalia, a major route leading to the Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia.

Also on Saturday, an Iranian-chartered ship which was seized in the Gulf of Aden by Somali pirates in November has been released, Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

The ship named "Delight," which was carrying 36,000 tons of wheat when it was hijacked, was released on Friday night, Fars quoted the urgent reaction committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines as saying.

All 25 members of the crew are now in good health, said the report, adding that the Hong Kong-flagged Delight is sailing towards Iranian port.

The report did not mention whether any ransom had been paid for the release of Delight.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2009)