Good news for the crew on board the hijacked vessel, one of whom is a sailor with Croatian citizenship.
As Morski writes on the 28th of October, 2018, the aforementioned Croatian seaman and eleven other members of the crew which was manning the recently hijacked Glarus cargo ship, have now been released and are reportedly on their way home, according to a brief report from the Seafarers Union of Croatia.
The cargo vessel was initially hijacked by pirates in Nigerian waters, and to briefly recall the incident, the pirates, who are assumed to be of Nigerian nationality, kidnapped twelve of the crew members from the Swiss cargo ship.
Seven of the hired crew members were from the Philippines, and among the kidnapped was a Croatian citizen, as well as a citizen of neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, a citizen of Croatia’s neighbour to the north, Slovenia, and two other seafarers holding Ukrainian and Romanian citizenship.
The vessel was making an otherwise normal journey, transporting wheat from Lagos to Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and was compromised and hijacked in Nigerian waters on Saturday. According to reports, the pirates gained access to the large vessel via the placement of a long ladder, they then cut the wire on the ship’s deck when aboard.
The pirates sailed 45 nautical miles from Bonny Island in the Niger Delta and captured twelve of the nineteen crewmembers aboard the Swiss vessel.
The Seafarers Union of Croatia has remained in constant contact with the family members of the crew members who were kidnapped and then held by the pirates on Nigerian territory during the ordeal, and in accordance with a joint agreement with them, it has been stated that the union will not publish any more detailed information on this case, and have asked the media in to show their respect for the privacy of the now safely released seamen and their families.
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