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RUSSIA-CAMEROON-MARITIME-TRANSPORT-KIDNAPPING
Russian seamen kidnapped off Cameroon freed
MOSCOW, Sept 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Moscow on Sunday said three Russian
seamen abducted in an act of piracy off the coast of Cameroon in August have
been freed and brought to Germany.
The Russians were part of a group of sailors, including Chinese and
Ukrainian citizens, taken hostage in mid-August after an attack on their
merchant ships in the Gulf of Guinea.
In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said they were “released from
pirate captivity” and that their health was “satisfactory”.
They are due to return to Russia on Monday, it added.
The attacks took place off the port of Douala, located at the northeastern
corner of the Gulf of Guinea that has become a hotspot of seaborne crime.
The total number of hostages taken in the attack is unclear. The
Cameroonian navy reported the kidnappings at the time but was unable to give
the number of those taken.
The Gulf of Guinea, whose coastline stretches in a huge arc from Liberia
to Gabon, is notorious for piracy as well as oil theft, illegal fishing and
human and drugs trafficking.
In recent years, the seas off West Africa have become “the world’s worst
for pirate attacks,” according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)
watchdog.
Attacks doubled in the Gulf of Guinea in 2018 compared to the previous
year — the bulk of them due to piracy, it said.
The 17 countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea and adjacent coastline have
limited surveillance and maritime defence capabilities.
BSS/AFP/RY/1915 hrs