The Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that most crew members including a South Korean on board a tanker were rescued, nine days after their ship was hijacked by pirates in West African waters.
 
According to the ministry, the vessel was attacked by pirates in international waters off Cote d'Ivoire on February eleventh and the ship's 18 crew members were detained. The crew included people of Chinese, Indian and Pakistani nationalities.
 
The Nigerian Navy carried out a rescue operation during the early hours of last Saturday and rescued 16 of the sailors, including the South Korean, and brought the tanker to Nigeria’s port of Lagos.
 
Some of the pirates were captured by the Nigerian Navy in the process of the rescue mission but some pirates were found to have escaped, taking two of the crew members with them.
 
The Foreign Ministry formed an emergency team from February 12th to tackle the latest issue, and said it is providing support to help the rescued South Korean return home.
 
According to the Associated Press, the tanker belongs to a United Arab Emirates’ company and was leased to a South Korean shipping firm. The report said the ship was hijacked by pirates three times in the past five years in the Gulf of Guinea.