That left three crew members to sail the Liberian-flagged Mozart owned by a Turkish company, the state agency said. Turkish news channel NTV spoke to a sailor still on board who said several crew members were wounded. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone to the new captain and was following events closely, his office said. Ten sailors who were taken hostage from a Turkish vessel off West Africa were released in August 2019. Pirate attacks on ships worldwide jumped 20 percent last year driven by a record spate of kidnappings off West Africa, the International Maritime Bureau said last week.

Source: The Guardian January 24, 2021 10:07 UTC