All 15 seafarers kidnapped from a Borealis Maritime boxship in the Gulf of Guinea earlier this month are safe and well.
Contact has been made with the crew, and with the pirate gang that attacked the 2,824-teu Mozart (built 2007) off Sao Tome and Principe on 23 January in a raid that left one mariner dead.
Turkish technical manager Boden Maritime said that all the seized seafarers are uninjured and together.
Boden and Borealis, the owner and lead manager, continue to do all they can to secure the earliest possible release of the crew.
'Overriding priority'
This was described in a statement as the "overriding priority".
The companies are in regular contact with the families of the abducted seafarers.
"For the safety and well-being of the crew, their families, and the wider Boden community, Boden and Borealis will not discuss this matter further," Boden added.
The ship was boarded 98 nautical miles (157 km) offshore while en route from Lagos in Nigeria to Cape Town in South Africa.
Turkey’s Maritime Directorate said the crew initially locked themselves in the citadel, but the pirates forced entry after six hours.
During the struggle, second mechanic Farman Ismayilov of Azerbaijan, the only non-Turkish crew member, was shot dead.
The gunmen left three seafarers on board. The vessel continued on to Gabon.
The exact circumstances of the incident have not been made public, but security consultancy Ambrey has been told the gunmen gained access to the citadel from a hatch via the poop deck.
