THREE FRENCH EMPLOYEES KIDNAPPED FROM SHIP OFF NIGERIA
Baku, September 23 (AZERTAC). Pirates armed with Kalashnikov rifles clashed with Nigerian navy forces in a failed bid to take over an offshore oil platform, then kidnapped three French employees of a marine services company while retreating, a Nigerian official said Wednesday.
Navy Commodore David Nabaida said a Thai employee also may have been taken hostage by the pirates during the attack, which began early Wednesday morning.
The French-flagged vessel Bourbon Alexandre was working in an offshore oil field operated by Addax Petroleum, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned oil producer Sinopec Group.
It was the latest act of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, especially along Nigeria`s 530-mile (850-kilometer) coast. Such pirate and militant attacks have been common near Nigeria`s Niger Delta, an oil-rich region of swamps, mangrove fields and creeks almost the size of South Carolina. However, it is highly unusual for attackers off Nigeria`s coast to try to mount a floating oil platform.
No claim of responsibility for the attack has been made, officials said.
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