ROME: Somali pirates have freed an Italian oil tanker hijacked in February with five Italians and 17 Indians on board after nearly 11 months in captivity, the Italian government said on Wednesday.

PM Mario Monti "expressed his great satisfaction for the release of the Italian ship Savina Caylyn and the crew", it said in a statement.

The crew and their families had faced "a harsh test" over the past months, it added. The 105,000-ton tanker owned by a Naples shipping company was seized on February 8 after five pirates aboard a skiff opened fire with rocket launchers near the Yemeni island of Socotra.