Freedom for 10 Turkish sailors abducted off Nigeria

Paksoy-1 (Daily Sabah)

Ankara: Ten Turkish sailors kidnapped last month by pirates off the coast of Nigeria have been released. They are all in good health.

The sailors were abducted on July 16 in the Gulf of Guinea after pirates attacked Turkish-flagged ship Paksoy-1 on her way from Douala in Cameroon to Abidjan in Ivory Coast, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Only eight of the total number of crew members were left on the ship docked in the port of Tema in Ghana.

The first contact with the group of pirates was established days after the capture through the efforts of the ship’s operator Kadıoğlu Maritime and Ankara’s support, Turkish daily Habertürk reported on July 23.

The daily cited sources it did not name who said that the pirates likely prolonged the contact process to keep the amount of ransom high and the bargaining margin wide.

Although Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer with most fields and production sites located in the delta emptying into the Gulf of Guinea, the region still suffers from extreme poverty and occasional militant activity, Turkey’s Daily Sabah said.

The Gulf of Guinea was described by the International Maritime Bureau as the most dangerous area in the world for piracy where 73% of all sea kidnappings and 92% of hostage-takings have occurred.