afrol News, 16 July - A Norwegian ship was hijacked by a band of armed pirates off Nigeria yesterday, before stealing on-board property, roughing up crew, and releasing them after two hours.

International Maritime Bureau said a 22-member crew, all Indian citizens, escaped attack unharmed.

Norwegian Rescue Service spokesman Stein Solberg said suspected pirates climbed aboard the commodity carrier at Port Harcourt early this morning.

"They took money, PCs and radio equipment. They also wrecked some of the inside of the ship and broke doors," Mr Solberg said.

According to him, the ship, the Spar Gemini, had anchored near the port after arriving with a shipment of dry goods from China.

A spokesperson for Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre for southern Norway said ten suspected pirates who were armed tied up crew before making away with loot.

Last week, international piracy watchdog warned of increasingly violent attacks on seafarers, particularly in waters off Nigeria and Somalia.

Spar Gemini was built last year and has a carrying capacity of about 53,000 metric tons. Its destination before Nigeria was Qingdao, China, according to AIS-Live ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Piracy is rampant in the waters off oil-rich Nigeria, now considered among most dangerous for armed raids in world.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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