* All 24 crew said to be in good health

* Vessel seized by Somali pirates on April 4

(Updates with quotes, details)

By Celestine Achieng

MOMBASA, Kenya, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A German container ship held by Somali pirates for four months arrived at Kenya's Mombasa port on Saturday after a $2.7 million ransom was paid for the release of the vessel and its 24 crew.

The 20,000-tonne Hansa Stavanger was hijacked on April 4 about 650 km (400 miles) off the southern Somali port of Kismayu with 14 Filipinos, five Germans, three Russians and two Ukrainians on board. All were in good health on Saturday.

"I am more than happy to say that all 24 crew members have now undergone proper medical attention," Torsten Ites, a senior naval officer in the European Union's anti-piracy Operation Atalanta, told a news conference in Mombasa.

"They are slowly but surely recovering ... They are optimistic and eager to start their lives in freedom away from the pirates."

Gangs of Somali pirates target vessels using the shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia through the Gulf of Aden, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.

Pirates freed the Hansa Stavanger, which is owned by the Hamburg shipping company Leonardt & Blumberg, on Monday after saying they had received a $2.7 million ransom.

Last month, the German weekly Der Spiegel reported the hostages were in a desperate state with no water, food or medicine, citing emails from the ship's captain to his wife.

The captain wrote in one message that the pirates had become impatient when ransom negotiations stalled at the end of April and had threatened to kill the crew, Der Spiegel said.

"They put tape over my eyes and dragged me on to the deck ... They shouted and sent bullets flying close to my head," the captain wrote.

Asked how EU forces had let the pirates escape, Ites told reporters: "The ship was close to the shore and it was not anchored, so it was easy for the pirates to get away."

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