( CNN ) -- Somali pirates have released two vessels they 've held for several months , apparently after ransoms were paid , officials and news agencies reported Saturday . On June 28 , pirates hijacked the MV Golden Blessing , with 19 Chinese sailors onboard . They took control of the vessel , which flew under the Singapore flag , about 60 nautical miles off the northern coast of Somalia . The 14,445-ton tanker , carrying a load of glycol ethylene , was released Saturday , according to the European Union Naval Force Somalia ( EUNAVFOR ) . The vessel had been en route from Saudi Arabia to India . EUNAVFOR provided no other details . There were conflicting numbers on the paid ransom , but Andrew Mwangura , programs coordinator of the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme , said it was less than $ 7 million . China 's transport agency , however , said on its website that the Golden Blessing had been `` rescued . '' Meanwhile , a South Korean oil tanker and its 24 crew members seized April 4 also were released Saturday , according to Yonhap , the South Korean state news agency . The pirates said they had been paid $ 9.5 million , Mwangura said . Somali pirates captured the Samho Dream about 600 nautical miles ( 690 miles , 1,111 km ) north of the Somali coast -- 300 nautical miles ( 345 miles , 556 km ) outside the area in which EUNAVFOR operates . The Combined Maritime Forces -- a cooperative effort by several countries to patrol international waters -- has warned that pirates in the Somali Basin and Gulf of Aden are venturing further from their home waters , `` revealing their desperation to find easier commercial targets . '' The 300,000-ton Samho Dream was seized in the Indian Ocean while en route to the United States from Iraq . The ship was carrying five South Korean and 19 Philippine crew members along with about $ 170 million worth of oil . The freed vessel is now en route to Louisiana , Mwangura said .
Two vessels released by Somali pirates . Hide Caption Countries have warned that pirates are venturing farther from home waters .