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FM: Ukrainian citizen, captain of oil tanker hijacked off Nigeria released

KIEV, January 07, /ITAR-TASS/. A Ukrainian citizen, captain of the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker MT Althea hijacked off Nigeria in December was freed, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s information policy department said.

In December last year the MT Althea was hijacked by pirates off Africa’s western coast near Nigeria. Two members of the crew - the tanker’s captain from Ukraine and the first engineer from Greece - were kidnapped.

“The Ukrainian embassy in Nigeria said the Ukrainian citizen, who was kidnapped on December 16, 2013, had been released from captivity,” the ministry said.

The tanker’s captain stays in Lagos, Nigeria, and will be soon taken home. The state of his health is satisfactory.