6 Ukrainians Abducted By Pirates Off Nigeria’s Coast

By Onwuka Gerald

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry confirmed that six of its country’s citizens were among the crew members that were kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, from a Cameroon-flagged STEVIA cargo ship.

Foreign ministry spokesman, Oleg Nikolenko on Saturday said the pirates had attacked the vessel in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to him, “The pirates captured eight members of the crew, 28 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria.

His words, “We are aware of the incident, pirates attack on the ship off the coast of Nigeria on December 16, resulted to kidnap of eight crew members, including six Ukrainian citizens”.

Nikolenko continued that the STEVIA cargo belongs to an Albanian company, Albaso both the Ukrainian embassy in Nigeria and Albania were taking needed response measures.

The daughter of one of the abducted sailors, on Saturday, confirmed also that there were six Ukrainians aboard the vessel at the time the incident happened.