ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2021) Fifteen Turkish sailors, who were rescued in the Gulf of Guinea after successful negotiations with kidnappers, returned to their homeland on Sunday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
On Saturday, the ministry said that intense efforts by Turkish diplomats and shipowner company led to the release of abducted sailors who were transferred to Nigeria before returning back to Turkey.
"Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu greeted sailors, who were abducted by pirates from the Mozart ship and freed yesterday, at the Istanbul airport," a spokesperson of the ministry told reporters.
The Liberian-flagged cargo ship, MV Mozart, was attacked about 98 nautical miles northwest of Sao Tome city on January 23 while on the route from Nigeria's Lagos to Cape Town in South Africa. Pirates abducted 15 Turkish crew members and murdered an Azerbaijani sailor. Three other people were left on the ship, which sailed in Gabon's Port-Gentil the next day.
