Pirates have released a Greek-owned oil tanker which they hijacked off the Ivory Coast over the weekend in the first such attack in this area, the International Maritime Bureau said on Wednesday. The Bahamas-flagged tanker with 24 crew on board was hijacked on Saturday while it was anchored off Abidjan, said Noel Choong, head of the bureau’s Kuala Lumpur-based piracy reporting centre. It was freed by the pirates on Tuesday, off Nigeria, after some of its cargo of gas oil was stolen. Mr Choong said no injuries were reported. According to the IMB, this was the first time a tanker was hijacked off the Ivory Coast, which lies to the west of the pirate-infested Gulf of Guinea, though three anchored ships have been robbed in the area this year.