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Nine sailors aboard a Norwegian owned vessel have been kidnapped by pirates while anchored off the coast of Benin.
The pirates boarded the ship, named Bonita, about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) from the port city of Cotonou on Saturday. Eight crew members and the captain were abducted.
“The Ugland Emergency Response Team are handling this situation as per contingency plans, and they are in contact with relevant authorities.
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, where Nigeria and Angola, the two main oil producers in sub-Saharan Africa, are located has seriously disrupted international maritime transport essential to the continent at a cost of billions of dollars.
