Two Russian sailors, who were kidnapped by pirates in February off the Nigerian coast, were released on Saturday, Pyotr Osichansky, an inspector at the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said.
Captain Viktor Pikus and chief engineer Vyacheslav Melnikov were taken hostage on February 28 when a group of pirates, armed with guns, raided Dutch-owned, Curaçao-flagged refrigerated cargo ship Breiz Klipper that was anchored at Port Harcourt.
Pirates opened fire on the vessel during the attack, ransacked the ship and robbed the 14-strong crew before escaping in a small boat.
“The kidnapped Russian sailors have been released,” Osichansky told RIA Novosti. “They are OK and feeling fine.”
“The negotiations on their release have been held for a while, and we were certain that they would be released this week,” the ITF inspector said, adding that the sailors will be flown to Moscow on Saturday.
Russian Ambassador in Nigeria Alexander Polyakov confirmed the release and said the sailors “were as healthy as people who spent 25 days in captivity could be.”
The negotiations with the pirates have been held by an intermediary hired by Russian, Dutch and Philippines’ diplomats.
The details of the release deal have not been disclosed.
