Thirteen seafarers, including 12 Filipinos have been released by Somali pirates, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs Tuesday.

The DFA confirmed that the MV Longchamp, with 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian on board, was released by the pirates.

According to the DFA Web site, the information was based on a report received from the Philippine Embassy in Nairobi.

The MV Longchamp is a Bahamas-flagged LPG tanker owned by Bernard Schulte Ship Management in Germany. It was captured on 29 January 2009.

DFA said that with this recent release 97 Filipino seafarers are still held captive in Somalia by pirates.

Other ships held by pirates with Filipino seafarers are: MT Stolt Strength (23), MV Saldanha (19), MV Titan (17), MT Nipayia (18), and MT Bow Asir (19).

The local manning agency of the recently-released Filipinos is reportedly assisting in the repatriation of the seafarers