By Jonathan Spicer and Irem Koca
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Pirates off the coast of Nigeria kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday in a violent and blatant attack that was further from the coast than normal.
A sailor was killed in the operation, an Azerbaijani citizen, while the abductees are from Turkey, according to their governments and crew list obtained by Reuters.
Reports from the crew, family and security sources described a sophisticated and well-orchestrated attack on Saturday, in which armed pirates boarded the ship and invaded its protective citadel, possibly with explosives.
Three sailors remain at Mozart, which was approaching Port Gentil from Gabon on Sunday and expected to dock, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon. The Liberian-flagged ship was leaving Lagos for Cape Town when it was attacked 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the island of São Tomé on Saturday, according to maritime reports.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s office said on Sunday that he was orchestrating officials to “rescue hijacked ships”.
Erdogan spoke twice by phone to the ship’s fourth captain, Furkan Yaren, who remained on board after the attack, his office said.
State agency Anadolu quoted Yaren as saying he was “sailing blindly” towards Gabon, with damage to the ship’s controls and only the working radar. The pirates beat the crew and left him with an injured leg, while another on board the ship had splinter injuries, he said.
Turkish media quoted shipowner Boden, an Istanbul-based company, as saying that the ship’s owners and operators were abducted at gunpoint. Boden was not immediately available.
Ambrey, a security company, said four armed men boarded the Mozart and entered the citadel – where the crew is advised to hide in any attack – from a deck at the top of the cabin.
Edward Yeibo, a Nigerian Navy commander, said he was unaware of the attack and that he was looking for details. The Lagos naval command office and a spokesman for Nigeria’s maritime regulator were not immediately available.
CHALLENGING PLAYER
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 confiscated worldwide, according to a report by the International Maritime Bureau.
The attack on Mozart could increase international pressure on Nigeria to do more to protect carriers, who have called for tougher measures in recent weeks, analysts said.
“The fact that someone died, the number of people arrested and the apparent use of explosives to violate the ship’s citadel means that it is a potential game changer,” said David Johnson, CEO of the EOS Risk Group, based in the UK.
“It is clearly quite sophisticated and if the pirates decided to use ammunition it is a great move,” he said. “There is no doubt” that the abductees will be taken back to the Nigeria Delta and Turkey will have little hope of preventing it, he added.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the pirates had made no contact with Ankara.
Seyit Kaya, brother of the captain of the hijacked ship, Mustafa Kaya, 42, a father of two, said in an interview that he awaited details from the shipowner about any possible rescue.
“As many attacks happen in this area, they take care of the pirates,” said Kaya, who is also a sailor.
(Additional reporting by Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa, Nigeria and Jonathan Saul in London; Editing by William Mallard, Frances Kerry and Raissa Kasolowsky)