LAGOS (AFP)
December 24, 2012
A naval security operative patrols the creeks of the Niger Delta in a military gun boat.
Pirates attacked an Italian ship off Nigeria and kidnapped four sailors, including three Italians, in the latest such incident off the country's oil-producing southern coast, officials said Monday.
While a spokeswoman for Italy's foreign ministry confirmed three of those abducted were Italians, the nationality of the fourth victim was not yet clear following the Sunday night attack.
"Pirates armed with guns attacked, boarded an offshore supply vessel ... and kidnapped four crew members," the International Maritime Bureau said.
There were "no injuries to crew members and (the) vessel continued passage to a safe port," it said.
The attack occurred some 40 nautical miles off of Nigeria's Bayelsa state, the IMB said. Nigerian navy spokesman Kabir Aliyu named the ship as the MV Asso Ventuno and said five vessels had been deployed in the area to patrol.
The Italian foreign ministry confirmed an attack on an Italian ship. It said Italian officials were monitoring the situation closely and were in contact with local authorities.
Noel Choong, head of the IMB's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, told AFP that attacks off Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea have risen to 51 this year with the latest incident. He said the dozens of incidents in the region make it one of the most dangerous areas for seafarers after Somalia.
Choong said since August 2012, there have been three kidnapping incidents off Nigeria involving 15 crewmen, including the latest incident.
Kidnappings occur both onshore and offshore in the Niger Delta.
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