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The Lagos Port Complex (Lagos Harbor) is located in the Apapa area of Lagos on March 16, 2016 in Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa.
Frédéric Soltan / Corbis via Getty Images
A ship management company is in talks to free three Greek sailors kidnapped earlier this month by pirates off the Nigerian coast, the Athens Ministry of the Merchant Marine said on Sunday.
Three of the five crew members were seized from the Togolese-flagged fueling vessel Stelios K after the attackers boarded it on 16 November.
Now Royal Ship Management, owner of the fuel tanker, is in talks to release the hostages, the ministry said.
The ministry added that the five crew members were in good health.
The pirates took the captain and two crew members of the Stelios K hostage, but the two remaining sailors were able to take him back to safety in Lagos.
This month’s attack on the Stelios K is the 23rd hijacking in the Gulf of Guinea in 2020, with a total of 118 people abducted, according to UK-based maritime security firm Dryad Global.
The company issued a “critical risk rating” for the Gulf of Guinea immediately after the hostage-taking, saying it was the second successful hijacking in three days and coinciding with a “sharp increase in incidents” in the region.
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