ARMED gunmen have attacked a Turkish cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria kidnapping the six Turkish crew members on board in the latest act of violent piracy along the West African coastline.
Turkey's Deniz News Agency, has confirmed that the pirates abducted the ship’s mechanical engineer, electrician, navigator and three captains. Owned by Kaptanogul Shipping, the ship is still in the hands of the pirates, although both the kidnapped crew and those who remained on board the ship are said to be in good health.
It was unclear how many crew members were aboard the ship known as M/T Puli, which was carrying chemicals, when it was attacked. Company officials said the pirates have not contacted them with any ransom demands yet.
At the end of 2015 Nigerian pirates kidnapped crew members from Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland in the area off Nigeria which is increasingly becoming a piracy hotspot. Incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia in eastern Africa, once a global hub for pirates, have significantly fallen in the past three years due in large part to patrols by international warships and armed guards aboard commercial vessels.
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