Odia seafarer among 5 hostages released from Nigeria

Bhubaneswar: An Odia seafarer, Sudeep Chaudhary, who was kept hostage with 4 sailors following abduction by pirates in Nigeria, was successfully released, informed External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in a tweet yesterday.

“Appreciate the help of Nigerian authorities, @shipmin_india, our team @india_nigeria & all other stakeholders who have contributed to the release of the seafarers. They are being brought to Port Harcourt under Nigerian police escort and our HC will safely repatriate them to India,” wrote Jaishankar on his twitter handle.

The release of five Indian sailors came after intervention of Ministry of Foreign Affairs into the matter.

Union Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed gratitude to the MEA for release of Odia sailor from Nigeria captivity.

“Thank EAM @DrSJaishankar ji, MoS Shipping Sh. @mansukhmandviya, @india_nigeria and all stakeholders for their efforts in securing the release of 5 Indian seafarers including that of Sh. Sudeep Chowdhary from Odisha who was amongst our citizens kidnapped by pirates in Nigeria,” Pradhan tweeted today.

Sudeep, a sailor 3rd Officer on the vessel ‘MT Apecus’ was kidnapped along with Ankit Hooda, Chirag Yadav, Avinash Reddy and Moogu Ravi by the pirates from vessel in the outer achorage off Bonny Island, Nigeria, on April 19. They were kept hostages in Nigeria.

They were successfully released and reached custody of Indian authorities on 27 June.

Worth mentioning, the Centre had set up an inter-ministerial Group of Officers (IMGO) under the Ministry of Shipping to deal with potential maritime security situations arising out of any hijacking at sea of merchant’s vessel with Indian crew. The Ministry of Shipping through the Directorate General of Shipping continuously coordinated with various agencies to work towards the early release of seafarers. The Ministry was also in constant touch with the victims’ families to update them on the developments in a timely manner as well as give necessary support as required.