WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland’s Foreign Ministry says 11 crewmembers of a ship who were taken hostage by pirates off the coast of Nigeria are now free and will be reunited soon with their families.

The crewmembers, including eight Poles, were on the Liberian-flagged container ship “Pomerania Sky” when they were kidnapped in late October.

The ministry said in a statement late Tuesday that all of the sailors “are in a safe place and are waiting to return to their families.”

It said the Poles would return home on Wednesday but gave no other details.

The ministry also gave no details about how the sailors were freed, but in its statement thanked the ship owner and Nigerian authorities.

It added: “We are glad that the release took place before Christmas.”

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