Armed pirates abduct nine sailors off Gabon

Libreville, Gabon: Armed assailants boarded a fishing trawler off Gabon s coast over the weekend and abducted nine sailors, the defence ministry said....

Libreville, Gabon: Armed assailants boarded a fishing trawler off Gabon's coast over the weekend and abducted nine sailors, the defence ministry said.

The incident on Saturday night was the latest act of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, which spans more than 5,700 kilometres (3,500 miles) from Senegal to Angola off Africa's west coast.

"This attack, perpetrated by three armed individuals, led to the abduction of nine crew members, including five Chinese nationals and four Indonesians," the navy's chief of staff Hubert Bekale Meyong said in a video statement broadcast by Gabonese media on Monday.

"The trawler IB Fish 7, flying the Gabonese flag, was the victim of a pirate attack while engaged in fishing about seven nautical miles southwest of Ekwata, in Gabonese waters," he added.

Six other sailors of Indonesian, Chinese and Burkinabe nationalities remained onboard the vessel, he said.