Piracy: five Chinese sailors kidnapped off the coast of Nigeria

Five Chinese sailors were abducted by armed men during an attack on a container ship in Nigerian waters, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday. " On July 2, a cargo ship sailing under the flag of Singapore was attacked by pirates off the coast of Nigeria and five Chinese sailors were kidnapped, " said the Chinese government.

Read also: Six sailors kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Benin

" The Chinese embassy in Nigeria has put in place emergency procedures and requests Nigeria to take the necessary measures to find its nationals, " a spokesman for the foreign ministry told AFP.

The seas monitoring company Dryad Global said that the attack had taken place off Benin, a country neighboring Nigeria, probably by Nigerian pirates. On the same day, pirates also stormed an offshore oil ship off the coast of southeast Nigeria and kidnapped nine Nigerian workers.

pirates increasingly active in the Gulf of Benin

Dryad Global has identified 78 kidnappings for ransom in the Gulf of Guinea since the beginning of the year, a figure which has risen sharply compared to last year. The Gulf of Guinea, which stretches from Liberia to Gabon, has become the most dangerous maritime area in the world in front of the Gulf of Aden, between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. Neither the Nigerian authorities nor the Nigerian navy made any comments after this new incident.