Nigerian Pirates Release Five Polish Crew

MV Szafir. Photo: MarineTraffic.com/Jean Pierre Boune

Five crew members kidnapped from a Polish-owned cargo last month off the coast of Nigeria are heading home, according to Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo.

The captain and four crew members of the Cyprus-flagged MV Szafir were kidnapped by pirates at about 11 p.m. on November 26th. According to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre, pirates in two speedboats approached and boarded the ship while underway approximately 70 nautical miles south-west of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Eleven crew members managed to lock themselves in the engine room, but five remaining crew members were kidnapped and taken ashore by the pirates, the IMB said.

The release of the crew was announced Tuesday by Prime Minister Szydlo during the joint press conference with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Szydlo had spoken to the crew by phone and confirmed that they were safe and unharmed.

The MV Szafir is operated but EuroAfrica. The ship was sailing from the Port of Antwerp to Nigeria’s Onne port when it was attacked.

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