Turkish pirates held hostage by armed pirates in Nigeria

A group of 10 Turkish sailors was kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, apparently for ransom.

The Paksoy-1 sailed from Cameroon to Ivory Coast when the pirates boarded the ship in the Gulf of Guinea.

He was not carrying goods and eight sailors managed to escape. Turkey said it was working to release the seized people.

The International Maritime Bureau has stated that the Gulf of Guinea is the most dangerous sea in the world for piracy.

Ömer Çelik, spokesman for the Turkish AKP party, said the ministry was closely following the case and "working on it".

Numan Paksoy, head of operations at Kadıoğlu Maritime, said that a "12 pirates with heavy weapons" had attacked the boat.

Members of the crew hid in a safe – the citadel – when the pirates boarded the ship, but appeared after "the attackers threatened to burn him and kill them all", he told the BBC in a statement sent by email.

The attackers then selected 10 sailors and let the other eight go, he added.

According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), 73% of kidnappings and 92% of hostages take place in the Gulf of Guinea, off Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Benin and Cameroon .

Recently, the organization noted "a net and welcome decrease" in the region's attacks due to the increase in the number of patrols of the Nigerian Navy.

Twenty-one incidents have been recorded around Nigeria so far this year, compared with 31 during the same period in 2018.

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