Six crew members kidnapped by pirates last month from a Danish oil tanker off Congo have been rescued from Nigeria, the ship’s owner said Monday.
The Liberian-flagged Monjasa Reformer had 16 sailors on board when it was attacked by pirates on March 25. Despite being owned by a Danish company, none of the crew were Danish.
When the 135-metre-long (443-feet) tanker was found by the French navy the following week off the coast of Sao Tome and Principe in the Gulf of Guinea, the remaining crew said six of their colleagues had been kidnapped.
“All six crew members who were kidnapped from the oil tanker, Monjasa Reformer, are now safely recovered from an undisclosed location in Nigeria,” Monjasa said.
It did not specify if ransom was paid.
Monjasa CEO Anders Ostergaard said they “are in a relatively good health condition given the difficult circumstances they have been under in the last more than five weeks.
“They have all been receiving medical checks and are now being repatriated to their home countries to reunite with their families,” he said.
Monjasa had previously said it had lost contact with the crew after pirates boarded the ship.
AFP
