A gang of pirates took hostage 12 crew
members from a Swiss cargo ship they attacked in Nigerian waters, the
vessel's operator has said.
Massoel
Shipping said its bulk carrier MV Glarus, with 19 crew, came under
attack early Saturday morning as it transported bulk wheat from
Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos to the southern oil hub of Port
Harcourt.
During the attack, 45
nautical miles southwest of Bonny Island, "the pirate gang boarded the
Glarus by means of long ladders and cut the razor wire on deck to gain
access to the vessel and eventually the bridge," the company said in a
statement sent to AFP. "Having destroyed much of the vessel's
communications equipment, the criminal gang departed taking 12 of the 19
crew complement as hostage," it added.
Massoel
spokesman Patrick Adamson told AFP it was the second largest number of
people taken from a ship in the oil delta southeast of Nigeria this
year.
"Pirates usually dont make contacts in the first 48 hours, so we don't have any news on that," he added.
For safety reasons, neither the identities nor nationalities of the hostages would be released, he said.
More
than 60 crew were reported kidnapped last year in waters off Nigeria,
Africa's leading crude producer, although many attacks are not reported.
The
Geneva-based shipping company said "all the appropriate authorities
have been notified" and specialists have been called in to "secure the
speedy and safe release of those being held."
"Families are being kept closely informed of the situation."
Switzerland's
foreign ministry said it "has been informed of the attack on Glarus, a
vessel sailing under a Swiss flag along the Nigerian coast."
The Swiss Maritime Navigation Office was in contact with the vessel's operator, it added.