Somali militants have hijacked a Nigerian merchant ship, holding its captain, Graham Egbegi, and its crew hostage, local media reported Sunday.
The militants are demanding a ransom of 1 million U.S. dollars for their release.
Trigo Egbegi, the captain's elder brother, disclosed this in a text message to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.
Egbegi, a journalist and Secretary of the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control, said the captain was allowed to contact his family after five days in captivity.
He said the ship, Yenagoa Ocean, belonging to ESL Integrated Services, had berthed in Mogadishu to seek medical attention for some crew members who were sick.
Egbegi said the ship was on its way from Dubai through the Pacific when it was hijacked.
He said the captain had earlier obtained a clearance to head for Mogadishu for the treatment, adding after the ship's berthing, the militants stormed the ship and seized it.
He said although the captain and his crew were well, the militants, who had reportedly contacted the ship's owners, had been threatening to kill them unless the ransom was paid.
Piracy has been rife off Somalia since the country slid into chaos after warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Many pirates claim to be "coastguards" protecting their waters against illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste.
Narrating their son's ordeal to newspaper The Guardian, spokesman of the Egbegi family, Trigo Egbegi, said Captain Egbegi and his crew went to Dubai to take delivery of the vessel, Yenagoa Ocean, via the Pacific route and on their way back to Nigeria,
"Mogadishu was the nearest city to them and they decided to berth in the city for urgent medical attention to the man," he said.
"They radioed the Mogadishu port and got permission to berth there. On their way, the ship was intercepted by pirates, who seized and took the crew to an unknown destination. Now the pirates are demanding for a $1 million ransom, failure which they have threatened to kill all the crew,'' Egbegi said.
He revealed that the owners of the ship, ESL Integrated Services, have been doing their best to ensure that the ship and its crew were released, "but up till now, they have not succeeded. Now, we have been left with no other option than to alert the federal government and Nigerians on the plight of the crew," he said.
Egbegi, who said he had found it difficult to get in touch with the managing director of ESL Services because he was said to have traveled out of the country, said the family depends on the Federal Government to help it secure the release of Captain Egbegi and his crew.
Source:Xinhua
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