Pirates kidnap 15 Turkish sailors
Pirates off Nigeria's coast kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish-crewed container ship in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday in a good brazen and violent attack that was farther from shore than usual.One sailor was killed found in the raid, an Azerbaijani citizen, even while those kidnapped are from Turkey, based on the respective governments and a good crew list seen by Reuters.
Accounts from crew, members of the family and security resources described a complex and well-orchestrated attack on Saturday where armed pirates boarded the ship and breached its protective citadel, possibly with explosives. Three sailors stick to the Mozart, which by Sunday evening was acquiring assistance in Gabonese waters off central Africa."The ship is in our waters and our sailors will be assisting a few nautical miles from Port Gentil," stated Gabon's presidency spokesman Jessye Ella Ekogha, without providing even more detail.
The Liberian-flagged vessel was headed to Cape Town from Lagos when it had been attacked 160 kilometres (100 miles) off Sao Tome island on Saturday, maritime reports showed.Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's office said found on Sunday he was orchestrating officials on the "rescue of kidnapped ship personnel". Erdogan spoke twice by mobile with the ship's fourth captain, Furkan Yaren, who remained aboard after the attack, his office explained.
State-run Anadolu agency cited Yaren as saying he previously been "cruising blindly" toward Gabon with harm to the ship's controls and only the radar working. The pirates defeat crew members, and kept him with an harmed leg while another even now aboard the ship possessed shrapnel wounds, he stated.
Turkish media cited Istanbul-structured Boden company, which gives technological management services for the vessel, as saying the operators of the vessel were abducted at gunpoint. Boden had not been immediately available.Ambrey, a good security business, said four armed men boarded the Mozart and entered the citadel - where crew should hide in any attack - through a hatch or the entranceway.
Edward Yeibo, a Nigerian Navy commander, said he had not been alert to the attack and seeking details. The Lagos naval control office and a spokesman for Nigeria's maritime regulator weren't immediately available.Pirates found in the Gulf, which borders greater than a dozen countries, kidnapped 130 sailors found in 22 incidents this past year, accounting for all but five of these seized worldwide according to a global Maritime Bureau report.
The attack on the Mozart could raise international pressure on Nigeria to accomplish more to safeguard shippers, which have called for tougher action in recent weeks, analysts said."The actual fact that someone passed away, the number of men and women taken and the apparent utilization of explosives to breach the ship's citadel means this is a potential game-changer," explained David Johnson, CEO of the UK-based EOS Risk Group.
"It's clearly quite advanced and if pirates are determined to make use of munitions it's a big move," this individual said. There is "without doubt" those kidnapped will be studied back again to Nigeria's Delta and Turkey could have little hope stopping it, he added.Turkey's foreign ministry said the pirates had not made any contact with Ankara.Seyit Kaya, brother of the ship's kidnapped 42-year-outdated captain Mustafa Kaya, a good father of two, said in an interview he awaited facts from the ship's owner over any practical ransom. "Since that area is where various attacks happen, they have cautions against pirates," said Kaya, who is also a sailor.
