Pirates usually target ships carrying fuel, loading it onto other ships to sell on the lucrative black market. (File photo)
Highlights
- Nigerian Navy helps India to rescue 10 Indians from hijacked ship
- 11th Indian and a Pakistani sailor still trapped, rescue efforts on
- Pirates hijacked the ship called Maximus near Ivory Coast, Africa
Ten Indian sailors have been rescued with the help of the Nigerian Navy after their ship was hijacked by pirates near Africa's Ivory Coast last Saturday, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said in a tweet on Sunday.
An eleventh Indian and one Pakistani sailor remains to be rescued, the minister tweeted.
The ship, called Maximus, had 11 Indian crew members on board. Once the news of the hijacking came in, India requested Ghana and Nigeria to follow the ship, the minister tweeted.
The seas off the Ivory Coast see a substantial number of hijackings and kidnappings. Pirates usually target ships carrying fuel, loading it onto other ships to sell on the lucrative black market.
Piracy has long been a problem off Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer and most populous nation.