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    Georgia says two sailors abducted by pirates in Gabon freed

    TBILISI (AFP) – Two Georgian sailors kidnapped by pirates in Gabonese territorial waters in early May have been released from captivity, officials in Georgia said yesterday.

    “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,” ministry spokeswoman Mari Narchemashvili told AFP.

    Georgia’s maritime transport agency had said that three sailors, including two Georgian citizens, were abducted on May 2 when pirates attacked their ship, the Grebe Bulker.

    An anonymous judicial source in Gabon told AFP at the time that the ship’s Russian captain was among those “abducted by unknown individuals”.

    Narchemashvili said “the sailors’ medical condition is satisfactory”, without giving details on how they were freed or on the status of the Russian captain. The 190-metre-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 – less than eight kilometres off the coast of the Gabonese commercial port of Owendo, in the suburbs of the capital, Libreville – is one of the closest to the coast and a major Gabonese city ever carried out by pirates.

    The Gulf of Guinea – particularly off the coasts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea – has in recent years become the epicentre of maritime piracy in Africa.

    Rescued sailors in a rescue boat. PHOTO: AFP
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