New Delhi - Relatives of the 18 Indian sailors aboard a ship hijacked by Somali pirates two months ago said Monday they were celebrating the release of the ship and were waiting for it to arrive in India's western city of Mumbai.

The Japanese-owned Stolt Valor was freed by the Somali hijackers on Sunday after the ship's owners paid a ransom of 2.5 million dollars, Indian media reports said.

Besides the Indians, the ship's crew included two men from the Philippines and one from Bangladesh.

The ship was hijacked on September 15 in the busy Gulf of Aden while on its way to Mumbai with 24,000 tons of oil products.

"We are so relieved. I spoke to my husband who said that everyone is safe though several crew members are mentally stressed out by the trauma and suffering from high blood pressure and other ailments," Seema Goyal, wife of the ship's captain PK Goyal, said over telephone from the northern Indian hill town of Dehradun.

The release of Stolt Valor comes barely a week after an Indian Navy frigate INS Tabar, which is patrolling the region, repulsed a pirate attacks on an Indian cargo vessel and a Saudi Arabian merchant ship.

The International Maritime Bureau recently described the Gulf of Aden region, off the coast of Somalia, as "the number one piracy danger zone."

At least 26 vessels have been hijacked by Somali pirates with 537 crew members taken hostage in the period from July to September.

Seema Goyal, who led a sustained campaign by family members of the crew of the hijacked ship putting pressure on the Indian government and the ship's company to secure their release, said the shipping company's management had told her the Stolt Valor was to return to Mumbai early next week.

"The ship is in poor condition, it is moving very slowly," she said. "We've decorated the house, our neighbours lit candles last night after the news, we are celebrating," she said.

"It has been such a long wait. We cried and prayed when we got news of the ship's release. I am thankful to the Japanese company which paid the ransom and the Indian government," P Unnikrishna, father of crew member Ullas Krishna was quoted as saying by IANS news agency. (dpa)