Georgia on Wednesday announced the release of two sailors kidnapped in early May by pirates off the coast of Gabon, close to a Gabonese commercial port.
"The two Georgian sailors kidnapped in Gabon were released on May 21 thanks to the efforts of the Georgian foreign ministry, the Georgian embassy in South Africa, and the Georgian shipping agency," said Mari Nartchemashvili, a Georgian diplomatic spokesperson.
"The sailors were kidnapped on May 2nd when pirates attacked their ship, the Grebe Bulker, which was docked in Gabonese territorial waters," she explained.
The 190-meter-long bulk carrier was attacked while at anchor less than eight kilometres off the Gabonese commercial port of Owendo, on the outskirts of the capital, Libreville, a judicial source in Gabon told AFP earlier on condition of anonymity.
According to one account, "unknown persons" seized the ship's captain, a Russian, as well as his second and third officers, both Georgians.
Nartchemashvili stated that the liberated sailors are in "satisfactory condition," but did not elaborate on the terms of their release or the fate of the Russian commander.
The pirate raid was one of the nearest to the shore and to a major Gabonese city ever carried out by pirates.
The Gulf of Guinea, particularly near the shores of Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, is frequently the site of pirate raids in which prisoners are taken to Nigeria and released, sometimes after some time, for ransom.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB), located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, stated in January that worldwide piracy will be at its lowest level since 1992 in 2022.
The waterways of the Gulf of Guinea, which had been considered the epicentre of worldwide maritime piracy during the preceding decade, experienced a drop in such attacks in 2022.
However, the number of these crimes appears to be on the rise again since the beginning of the year, with at least two reported in little over a month and several others prevented.
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