One Sailor Killed, 15 Kidnapped as Pirates Attack Turkish Ship

On Sunday, pirates attacked a Turkish cargo ship off the coast of West Africa, killing a sailor and kidnapping 15 others.

The Turkish Maritime Directorate said, "The crew locked themselves at first in a safe area, but the pirates broke into the room after 6 hours."

During the struggle, one of the crew members died on board the M/V Mozart ship.

Turkish media identified the victim as Azerbaijani engineer Farman Ismailov, the only non-Turkish crew member.

The pirates left the ship in the Gulf of Guinea, with 3 sailors on board, after taking most of the crew on Saturday, according to Anadolu News agency.

The ship is currently heading to the port of Gentil in Gabon.

In a tweet, The Turkish presidency said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke twice with the senior officer remaining on board the ship, Furkan Yarin.

It added that Erdogan had issued orders for the recovery of the kidnapped crew.

"The owners and operators of M/V Mozart ship which was hijacked at gunpoint in the Gulf of Guinea, unfortunately, confirmed that one of its crew members has been killed, and others kidnapped," the Istanbul-based Boden Maritime Company said in a statement.