A total of five South Korean fishermen were released in Nigeria, over a month after they were kidnapped from their vessel Panofi Frontier in the Gulf of Guinea, South Korean officials informed.
The Ghanaian-flagged purse seiner Panofi Frontier became subject of a piracy attack in the noon of 24 June, some 60 nautical miles south of Cotonou.
A total of 30 crewmen were aboard at the time of the attack, but the armed kidnappers took only six of them, including five South Korean and one Ghanaian crew.
Eventually, the five South Koreans were released from southern Nigeria on Friday (local time), around a month after being abducted in waters about 111 kilometers south from Cotonou Port of Benin, according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This was the seventh pirate attack (including both actual and attempted boardings) reported off Cotonou this year, according to data by security consultancy firm Dryad Global.
In addition, the annual report of Stable Seas indicated that Gulf of Guinea remained the area worst affected by piracy and maritime robbery of vessels worldwide in 2019, with a 60% increase in the number of crew members kidnapped (164).
