Pirates have kidnapped seven Russians and one Ukrainian after attacking a cargo ship off the Nigerian coast.
The Russian Embassy in Nigeria and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on February 8 that they are working with Nigerian officials to try and locate the hostages who were taken from the BBC Caribbean cargo ship.
"The armed pirates approached [the vessel] in a boat, captured the crew, and left on the boat" toward Nigerian shores, said Pavel Fedulov, the director of Briese Schiffahrts, the St. Petersburg-based company that manages the ship.
Security experts say the seas off the coast of Western Africa are some of the world's most dangerous, with pirate ships often seizing oil tankers and holding sailors for ransom, Reuters reported.
The Nigerian Navy said on February 8 that it had rescued an oil tanker and its 21 crew members from a separate pirate attack off its shores.
It had no immediate comment about the kidnapping of the crew of the BBC Caribbean.
