Accessibility links

Breaking News

Agencies: Pirates in Nigeria Release Russian, Ukrainian Sailors


FILE - Suspected pirates are paraded aboard a naval ship after their arrest by the Nigerian Navy in Lagos August 20, 2013.
FILE - Suspected pirates are paraded aboard a naval ship after their arrest by the Nigerian Navy in Lagos August 20, 2013.

Nigerian pirates have released seven Russian and one Ukrainian sailors after they were captured last month on the cargo ship the BBC Caribbean, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing a human rights activist in Crimea.

The sailors were released after talks between the owners of the ship and pirates.

Interfax news agency quoted human rights activist Pavel Butsay, in the city of Sevastopol, as saying the sailors were at a Frankfurt airport and planned to return home next week.

Butsay told TASS news agency that a ransom was paid but did not reveal the sum.

Security experts class West Africa's waters, especially off Nigeria where many pirates originate, as some of the world's most dangerous, with attackers often targeting oil tankers and holding hostages for ransom.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG