Freed sailors arrive at Turkish embassy in Nigeria
The Liberian-flagged Mozart ship had been en route from Nigeria’s Lagos to Cape Town in South Africa when 15 Turkish crew members were kidnapped.
All 15 rescued Turkish sailors have been brought to the Turkish Embassy in Nigeria under strict security.
Turkish Ambassador Melih Ulueren and other officials on Saturday welcomed the sailors who were kidnapped after their ship was taken over by pirates. They were rescued on Friday.
Upon their arrival at the embassy in the capital Abuja, the sailors talked to their families over the phone.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Ulueren said: “We are very happy to see our citizens among us in good health.”
Mesut Meral, one of the rescued sailors, said: “Everything is fine. I can tell the families in Turkey that they shall not be sad, we will return to our country soon.”
Captain Mustafa Kaya said his crew was finally free after 21 days and they were looking forward to reuniting with their families.
Pirate attack on January 23
In a pirate attack on January 23, 15 of the Liberian-flagged ship Mozart’s 19 crew members were abducted.
One of them, an Azerbaijani national, was killed.
Following the attack, the ship anchored at the nearby Port-Gentil, but with only three of its surviving crew members on board. They were brought to Turkey on January 30.
The vessel was managed by Borealis Maritime, a firm based in London and Hamburg, Germany.
Top Turkish, Nigerian diplomats discuss sailors’ rescue
The foreign ministers of Turkey and Nigeria spoke on Saturday to discuss developments following the release of Turkish sailors from pirates’ captivity a day earlier, diplomatic sources said.
Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama held a phone conversation.
The top Turkish diplomat also spoke to Kaya, the captain of the ship, in a separate phone call, according to the sources.
READ MORE: Kidnapped Turkish sailors safe, pirates tell shipping company
The Gulf of Guinea, off the coasts of Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Benin and Cameroon, is the most dangerous sea in the world for piracy, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
In July 2019, 10 Turkish seamen were kidnapped off the coast of Nigeria. They were released less than a month later.
