ROME, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Italian President Sergio Mattarella expressed his satisfaction for the release on Thursday of eight Italian fishermen, who were detained in Libya along with other 10 colleagues for over three months.

Their release was confirmed by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, who had flown to the Libyan city of Benghazi in the morning.

"The President of the Republic learned with great satisfaction from the Prime Minister the news of the release of our fishermen detained in Libya," said a statement by Mattarella's office.

The president also "expressed his appreciation to the Italian foreign affairs ministry and the information and security services" for the positive outcome of the incident, it said.

The crew comprised eight Italians, six Tunisians, two Indonesians and two Senegalese, who were on board two Italian fishing ships that were seized by Libyan patrol boats on Sept. 1. They had sailed from Mazara del Vallo, Sicily.

Accused by the Libyan forces of having violated the country's territorial waters -- an accusation disputed by Italy -- they were held in the eastern city of Benghazi for the whole time of the dispute.

The news of their release was firstly broken by Prime Minister Conte and Foreign Minister Di Maio with two separate posts on Twitter showing a picture of the 18 freed men, many of them smiling.

In another post on Facebook, Di Maio said that the Italian government "continues to firmly support the stabilization process in Libya."

The whole crew were now on their way back to Mazara del Vallo on board of the two fishing ships, the mayor of Mazara del Vallo, Salvatore Quinci, said on Facebook. Enditem

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