General News: Captive Greek seaman released

A Greek ship’s engineer taken captive by armed youths in Onne, Nigeria has been released unharmed, the shipping firm “Trinto Shipping Maritime” announced on Friday.

Both the Greek first engineer and the Ukrainian captain of the St. Vincent-flagged freighter “Perseus”, both of whom were taken hostage during an attack on January 26, were reported to be in good health.
The 54-year-old Greek engineer has been taken to a Nigerian naval base for a medical check-up and is expected to be back in Greece by Sunday.
The ship was attacked by a group of about 10 youths aged between 15 and 16 years old carrying heavy weapons. During the attack, two Egyptian sailors on the vessel were injured in the legs by gunfire.
The ship had a crew of 15, the majority of them Egyptians, and was anchored 12 miles from the port of Onne in order to take on a load of fertiliser.
The armed youths reached the “Perseus” on a boat and forced the crew to hand over their mobile phones, the ship’s computer, food and money.