Georgia announces release of two seamen captured in Gabon’s seas

Two Georgian sailors captured early this month by pirates in Gabon’s territorial waters have been released from captivity, authorities of the European country announced Wednesday.
“Two Georgian sailors abducted in Gabon were freed on May 21 thanks to the efforts of Georgia’s foreign ministry, the Georgian embassy in South Africa, and Georgia’s maritime transport agency,” Georgia’s Foreign ministry’s spokeswoman, Mari Narchemashvili, told AFP.
“The sailors were kidnapped on 2 May when pirates attacked their ship, the Grebe Bulker, which was docked in Gabonese territorial waters”, she said.
The maritime transport agency right after the attack indicated the two Georgian sailors were among three people who were kidnapped. AFP learned from an anonymous source that the third person was a Russian national and captain of the vessel.
The ministry official said “the sailors’ medical condition is satisfactory,” but stopped short to give details on the release and to provide ample information about the Russian skipper.
Grebe Bulker, 190-meter-long bulk carrier, belongs to the American maritime transport company Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. but is flying the flag of the Marshall Islands. The attack took place less than 8 km (five miles) off the coast of the Gabonese commercial port of Owendo, in the suburbs of the capital, Libreville.
The attack in Gabon’s territorial waters is the most recent piracy activity in the Gulf of Guinea that stretches from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia.
The area, particularly off the coasts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, became off-late the theater of piracy activities. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB), based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, indicated in January that worldwide acts of piracy had reached their lowest level since 1992 — including in the Gulf of Guinea.
The bureau indicated that the number of attacks there has been on the rise since the beginning of the year, with at least two incidents reported recently and several others thwarted.