A statement released by Turkey’s Marine Undersecretariat said the Turkish ship was attacked by a group of 10 pirates late on Thursday.
According to the statement, a fight erupted between the ship’s crew and the pirates, who took all the valuable belongings of those on board the ship, when a crewmember pressed the alarm button. The injured Turks were identified as Volkan Seçkin and Cüneyt Bayraktar.
Turkey’s Marine Undersecretariat contacted Nigerian authorities to help those on board the Özay-5. The injured crewmembers were taken to the Lagoon Hospital in Lagos.
Meanwhile, the Maltese-flagged freighter Frigia, hijacked by Somali pirates on Wednesday with 19 Turkish crewmembers on board, is expected to be in Somalia on Friday. Ayhan Uğurlubay, an official from the Karya Maritime Company, which owns the ship, said they cannot reach the ship and that the pirates fully control the vessel.
Speaking to the Cihan news agency, Uğurlubay said they are continuously calling the ship’s satellite phone, but have yet to receive an answer. Saying that they have no idea in which port the pirates will anchor this ship, he said the pirates are playing a “strategic game” through not answering their calls. “The most important thing is the security of our crewmembers. We are waiting for the pirates to contact us,” Uğurlubay said.
