ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey sought on Sunday to rescue three surviving members of a cargo ship after pirates attacked it off the coast of Nigeria, killing one and kidnapping 15, according to President Tayyip Erdogan’s office and Turkish state media.
Erdogan had two phone calls with one of the captains of the ship which was headed toward Gabon, and he “instructed all officials regarding the rescue of kidnapped ship personnel,” Turkey’s presidency said.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu agency said one crew member was killed and 15 kidnapped by pirates from the ship that had a full crew of 19. The vessel, called Mozart, was headed to Cape Town from Lagos, it said.
Anadolu cited Istanbul-based Boden company saying the owners and operators of the vessel were abducted at gunpoint in the Gulf of Guinea.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by William Mallard)
