Cavusoglu Says Good News From Abducted Turkish Sailors Expected As Pirates Made Contact

Ankara expects good news from the Turkish sailors kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria, as Turkey finally established contact with the attackers, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2021) Ankara expects good news from the Turkish sailors kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria, as Turkey finally established contact with the attackers, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.

On Thursday, the pirates who attacked a Turkish vessel made first contact with the Boden Shipping company, which provides technical management services for the vessel, to discuss a ransom.

"We are expecting to hear further good news from our Turkish seamen who were kidnapped by the pirates in Nigeria. All 15 seamen are in good health and 3 of them will return to Turkey today," Cavusoglu said, as cited by Daily Sabah, at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, currently on a visit in Turkey.

The Liberian-flagged cargo ship, MV Mozart, was attacked about 98 nautical miles northwest of Sao Tome city on January 23 while on the route from Nigeria's Lagos to Cape Town in South Africa. Pirates abducted 15 crew members of Turkish origin and murdered an Azeri national. Three other people were left on the ship, which sailed in Gabon's Port-Gentil the next day.