Massoel Shipping, a Swiss shipping company says 12 crew members of a bulk carrier, MV Glarus who were abducted by pirates more than five weeks ago near Nigeria, have been released.
According to the company, seven Filipinos, a Slovenian, a Ukrainian, a Romanian, a Croatian and a Bosnian, were freed late Saturday in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and were in Switzerland on Monday before returning home.
Massoel said it would not provide details of the release “as to do so would only encourage further criminal acts of this kind.”
The company said the ship carrying wheat was attacked Sept. 22 as it sailed from Lagos to Port Harcourt. The attackers apparently boarded using long ladders and cut razor wire on the deck to reach the bridge. Seven crew members were not captured.
A spokesman for Massoel, Blake Sinclair, said the crew members were “as well as can be expected, given the circumstances.” He said details of their detention were not immediately available.
