By Martin Cole
Pirates off Nigeria’s coast kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship on Saturday, in a brazen and violent attack that was farther from shore than usual.a
Turkey’s Maritime Directorate said the crew initially locked themselves in a safe area but the pirates forced entry after six hours. The engineer died during the struggle.
Three sailors remain on the Mozart ship, which by Sunday evening was receiving assistance in Gabonese waters off central Africa. The pirates left the ship in the Gulf of Guinea with three sailors aboard, after taking them hostage.
“The ship is in our waters and our sailors are assisting a few nautical miles from Port Gentil,” said Gabon’s presidency spokesman Jessye Ella Ekogha, without providing further detail.
The Liberian-flagged vessel was on its way to Cape Town from Lagos when it was attacked in the Gulf of Guinea, 160 kilometers (100 miles) off Sao Tome island on Saturday, maritime reports showed.
The ship’s fourth captain, Furkan Yaren, had been “cruising blindly” toward Gabon with damage to the ship’s controls and only the radar working, according to state-run news agency Anadolu.
Pirates in the Gulf, which borders more than a dozen countries, kidnapped 130 sailors in 22 incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized worldwide, according to an International Maritime Bureau report.
Ambrey, a security company, said four armed men boarded the Mozart and entered the citadel — where crew are advised to hide in any attack — from a deck atop the cabin.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s office said on Sunday he was orchestrating officials in the “rescue of kidnapped ship personnel
The attack on the Mozart could raise international pressure on Nigeria to do more to protect shippers, which have called for tougher action in recent weeks, analysts said.
“The fact that someone died, the number of people taken and the apparent use of explosives to breach the ship’s citadel means it is a potential game-changer,” said David Johnson, CEO of the UK-based EOS Risk Group.
“It’s clearly quite sophisticated and if pirates have decided to use munitions it’s a big move,” he said. There is “no doubt” those kidnapped will be taken back to Nigeria’s Delta and Turkey will have little hope stopping it, he added.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said the pirates had not made any contact with Ankara. Seyit Kaya, brother of the ship’s kidnapped 42-year-old captain Mustafa Kaya, a father of two, said in an interview he awaited details from the ship’s owner on any possible ransom.