News reports quote a spokeswoman for Beluga Reederei, as saying pirates abandoned the vessel Beluga Fortune on Monday, a day after seizing it in the Indian Ocean 1,200 miles east of Mombasa, Kenya.
Crewmembers of the ship sent out a distress call, turned off the engine, shut off the fuel supply, and barricaded themselves in a special security room, and informed the military.
A reconnaissance plane with the European Union naval force Atalanta reached the scene within hours and observed the freighter drifting. A naval boarding party searched all decks Sunday before telling the crew to come out their hiding place.
Another ship, the York, a Singapore-flagged gas tanker, was attacked by pirates on Saturday, about 50 nautical miles east of Mombasa.
The European Union Naval Forces said including the York, Somali pirates are holding 19 vessels with 428 hostages.
