The 13 Bulgarians on board two UK-flagged ships that were hijacked by Somali Pirates over a month ago are “alive and healthy”, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Dragovest Goranov, reported Tuesday.

Goranov reported that negotiations for the release of the ships continue but there is still a lack of a specific agreement between the ships’ owners and the Somali pirates. He also added that any recent allegations that the pirates had mistreated the crew were very unlikely.

"The Asian Glory," which was transporting cars from Singapore to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, was seized on January 2 about 600 miles east of the Somali coast before it could join a convoy. The ship’s payload can be up to 4 000 cars.

Another British-flagged ship with five Bulgarians onboard, the chemical tanker "St James Park," was seized in late December in the Gulf of Aden. "St James Park" has a crew of 26, consisting of Bulgarians, Filipinos, Georgians, Indians, Poles, Romanians, Russians, Turks and Ukrainians.

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