Somali pirates have freed a Greek-owned oil tanker, a day after one of the largest ransoms ever paid was delivered to the ship. Officials said the Maran Centaurus, one of the largest oil tankers ever seized, was captured on 29 November with 28 crew members.<br/><br/>A ransom of between 5.5 million and 7 million US dollars was dropped on the deck of the supertanker. The money was said to have sparked an argument among the pirates and delayed the release of the ship. When it was hijacked, the Maran Centaurus was sailing near the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, about 1,300 kilometres off Somalia. Its crew is made up of 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and one Romanian.