ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Armed pirates attacked a Turkish cargo ship off the West African coast, abducting 15 sailors and killing one of them, officials said on Sunday as Turkey tried to retrieve the captured crew.
The Liberian-flagged M / V Mozart was sailing from Lagos, Nigeria, to Cape Town, South Africa, when he was attacked on Saturday morning 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) northwest of the island of Sao Tome and Principe.
Turkey’s maritime directorate said the crew was initially locked in a safe area, but the pirates forced entry after six hours. During the fight, a crew member died. She identified the victim as Azerbaijan’s engineer Farman Ismayilov, the only non-Turkish crew member.
After the abduction of most of the crew, the pirates left the ship in the Gulf of Guinea with three sailors on board, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. According to reports, the pirates deactivated most of the ship’s systems, leaving only the navigation system for the remaining crew to find their way to Gabon’s Port-Gentil.
The Gulf of Guinea, off the coasts of Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Benin and Cameroon, is the world’s most dangerous sea for piracy, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
Maritime security consultancy Dryad Global described the attack as “an exceptional incident both in terms of its severity and its distance from the shore”. Last year, shipments in West African waters increased to 18 from 13 in 2019, the London-based company added.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, said he had spoken to Mozart’s remaining senior officer, Furkan Yaren, and that the morale and physical condition of the sailors on board were good.
“We are continuing coordinated negotiations for the release” of the abducted sailors, he said. “The pirates have not responded yet.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken to Yaren twice, his office said in a tweet. He added that Erdogan had issued orders to recover the abducted crew.
“Owners and operators of M / V Mozart, which was hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea, have confirmed with regret that one of its crews has been killed and others abducted,” said Istanbul-based Boden Maritime.
Among the captives is the ship’s captain, Mustafa Kaya, 41. His brother Seyit, from Istanbul, said the sailors’ families were called by Erdogan.
“We hope to see them free, unharmed soon,” he said. “Everyone is trying. We pray for our brothers. ”
In July 2019, 10 Turkish sailors were abducted off the coast of Nigeria. They were released less than a month later.