The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday that, three South Korean sailors kidnapped by Nigerian pirates in seas off Ghana last month have been released safely.
“Our three abducted nationals were freed on April 27 (local time) and were handed to our side, they are in our protection in a safe place," the ministry said.
The captain, engineer and mate of the 500-ton fishing boat, Marine 711, were hijacked by pirates, identified as Nigerians on March 26.
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon made public their release on Facebook earlier on Saturday, though he failed to disclose where they were freed and where they had been taken.
“All three sailors kidnapped in waters off Ghana were freed safely,” Lee wrote.
The sailors will undergo proper medical checkup and will be moved to Munmu the Great, a South Korean warship dispatched to the area to help rescue them, he added. The warship had been involved in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
More than 40 crew members were aboard the Marine 711, registered in Ghana, when it was hijacked by pirates numbering nine.
The kidnappers steered the boat into Nigerian waters and then took the South Koreans to an unknown location using a speedboat.
Subsequently, the hijacked ship arrived at the Port Of Tema on the eastern coast of Ghana, where some 40 Ghanaian sailors disembarked.
South Korea has been coordinating with nearby countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Benin.
