Istanbul: - Three weeks after a container ship was attacked in the Gulf of Guinea, 15 Turkish crew members kidnapped by pirates have returned to Turkey.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was at Istanbul airport to meet the crew early on Sunday morning, footage from the scene showed. The 15 seamen were released on Friday.
Pirates attacked the boat on 23 January, about 180 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria. An Azerbaijani crew member was killed. The pirates then left the ship. Three crew members left behind steered the freighter into a port in Gabon.
The ship was on its way from the Nigerian city of Lagos to Cape Town in South Africa when the assault occurred. The pirates made contact five days after the attack, according to the ship’s company. It was unclear whether a ransom had been paid. (dpa)
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was at Istanbul airport to meet the crew early on Sunday morning, footage from the scene showed. The 15 seamen were released on Friday.
Pirates attacked the boat on 23 January, about 180 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria. An Azerbaijani crew member was killed. The pirates then left the ship. Three crew members left behind steered the freighter into a port in Gabon.
The ship was on its way from the Nigerian city of Lagos to Cape Town in South Africa when the assault occurred. The pirates made contact five days after the attack, according to the ship’s company. It was unclear whether a ransom had been paid. (dpa)