Twelve crew members on board the freighter FWN Rapide from the Groningen-based company ForestWave have been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Africa.
RTV Noord reports that the ship was travelling between Ghana and the Nigerian Port Harcourt when it was hijacked by pirates. The pirates took 12 of the 14 crew members hostage. The fate of the crew members is not currently clear. Two crew members who were left on board sailed the ship to safety.
The employees at the Groningen shipping company, located on the Rozenburglaan, were distraught over the news of the kidnapping. Spokesperson Cor Radings says, “This really comes as a terrible shock. Our thoughts are with our crew and their family members. All of the relevant authorities are working on the situation, and our first priority is to make contact with our missing crew members.”
The crew members hail from different countries – there were no Groningen residents on board. Radings says that the two remaining crew members are unharmed, but the company has no information about the rest of the crew.
Radings says that he cannot provide further information for the sake of the safety of the crew being held hostage. ForestWave has several dozen ships.
Photo source: Jan H. Tetens, MarineTraffic.com
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