MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. /TASS/. Russian sailors captured by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea on January 2 are alive and held in acceptable conditions, chairman of the Russian Union of Sailors Yury Sukhorukov told TASS on Wednesday.

Sukhorukov said that pirates contacted the company that owns the captured ship. "Representatives of a pirate group contacted the company that owns the ship. Negotiations have been launched. The captain was allowed to speak to the ship owner. He confirmed that everything is more or less fine, that people are held in more or less acceptable conditions," Sukhorukov said.

Pirates attacked and captured MSC Mandy container ship sailing under Panama's flag at night on January 2 in Benin's territorial waters. Twenty-four people were on ship, six of them were captured. All of those captured are Russian citizens.