Six crew members of a Turkish cargo ship have been kidnapped by pirates in the Niger Delta, according to Nigerian Navy spokesman, Chris Ezekobe.
The ship carrying chemicals was believed to be travelling from Gabon to Ivory Coast. The pirates attacked the ship late at night as it was sailing close to the oil-rich Niger Delta.
“All the six Turkish crew members, including the captain of the vessel, the chief officer and the chief engineer, were abducted by the attackers,” Ezekobe confirmed.
The spokesman said the navy was going to board the vessel to speak to other crew members.
Turkey’s Deniz News Agency said the ship, the M/T Puli, was owned by Kaptanoglu Shipping.
Both the kidnapped crew and those who remained on the ship, were “in good health”, the company was reported as saying.
Company officials said the pirates have not contacted them.
Security analysts say the pirates have emerged from militant groups in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
At the end of 2015 pirates kidnapped crew members from Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland in the area which is increasingly a piracy hotspot.