Pirates have kidnapped five crew members from a cargo ship
off Nigeria, a piracy watchdog and a security source said on Monday, part of a
growing trend of attacks that are pushing up maritime insurance costs in the
Gulf of Guinea, Reuters reports.
The
Antigua and Barbuda-flagged MV City of Xiamen container ship was attacked late
on April 25 off the coast of oil-producing Bayelsa state, a security source
said.
The
crew members were mostly Sri Lankans but included one member from Russia and
another from Myanmar, the source said.
The
International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said 14 heavily armed pirates attacked the
container ship, breached its citadel – a strong room designed to protect the
crew from attack.
The
pirates took five crew captive before escaping with cash taken from the ship
and the crew, the IMB said in a piracy report.
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