Abuja - Five Indian
sailors kidnapped when their ship was attacked off the coast of Nigeria
last month have been released, the vessel's operating company said on
Saturday.
Pirates looted the SP Brussels,
an oil and chemicals tanker, on December 17 about 40 miles off the
coast of the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region home to Africa's
largest energy industry.
"Five crew
members who were taken from the vessel by armed men ... have been
released," Medallion Marine said in a statement. "All five are reported
to be in good health after their ordeal."
There were no details on how they were freed but in the past ransoms have been paid. The Nigerian navy had no immediate comment.
Piracy
and kidnapping in Nigeria's oil-producing Delta and offshore are
common. The Gulf of Guinea is second only to the waters off Somalia for
the risk of pirate attacks, which drives up shipping and oil industry
costs.
Nigeria is among the world's top 10
crude oil exporters and imports around 80 percent of the fuel products
needed for its 160 million people due to a lack of domestic refining
capacity.
- Reuters