Yemisi Izuora
The Indian High Commission has disclosed that 20 Indian crew members kidnapped by pirates off Nigeria’s coast have been freed but regretted that one of the abducted men lost his life in captivity due to adverse conditions. This was disclosed by the Indian Mission on Sunday, January 19, 2020.
The mission released the information via its official page on microblogging site, Twitter.
It was unclear if any ransom had been paid for the release of the abducted crew members but there are insinuations that such kidnap incidents perpetrated by pirates usually involve the payment of ransoms before the release of the victims.
The Indian High Commission had worked with the Nigerian government in securing the release of the crew members.
The incident reportedly occurred in an attack off Nigeria’s coast on Sunday, December 15th, 2019.
The vessel involved has been identified as the Marshall Islands-flagged DUKE and the ship’s operator Union Maritime disclosed that the vessel was carrying fuel from Angola.
In a statement on its website, Union Maritime revealed that the craft was attacked and boarded while carrying fuel oil to the Togolese capital Lome from Angola.
It stated that the company was working with relevant authorities to resolve the incident.
The development was confirmed by India’s Foreign Ministry on Monday, December 16th 2019. It disclosed that 20 of its nationals had been kidnapped from an oil tanker in West African waters; where piracy has been on the rise.
“We are concerned by the kidnapping of 20 Indian crew members (as reported by the Shipping agency) from the vessel MT Duke in the high seas off the western coast of Africa on 15th December 2019,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
“This is the third such incident this year in the region, affecting Indian nationals,” he said.
Meanwhile, the incident had come 10 days after a similar incident near the Nigerian coast. In that incident, 18 Indians onboard a Hong Kong-flagged vessel were kidnapped by pirates near Bonny Island.
