UAE-FLAGGED, Kuwaiti-owned 105,846-ton tanker Zirki and its 29 crew have been released following reports that the second largest ransom - US$12 million - has been paid to pirates.

    The highest ransom paid to pirates was to the crude oil tanker Iren in April: $13 million. This adds to the total of ransoms paid to $110 million, which does not include millions of dollars spent to make the drops, reports London's Containersation International.

    The latest victim for which the ransom was paid to release a crew of two Ukrainians, one Croatian, an Iraqi, a Filipino, an Indian, three Jordanians, three Egyptians and 17 Pakistanis. It was hijacked by pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and small arms from skiffs 250 nautical miles south east of Salalah on March 28, 2011 while sailing from Sudan to Singapore.

(Resource:http://www.shippingonline.cn/)