Dyflin
Active member
Hats off to any lads brave (or unlucky?) enough to work down around Nigeria, it's happening more and more often...
"Freed hostages reveal details of their dramatic abduction
Pirates shot at the Norwegian supply ship that was attacked off the coast of Nigeria last week. Captain Jarle Johansen was taken off the vessel with an automatic pistol pointed at his neck.
Jarle Johansen (left) and Roger Bjerkås were among those kidnapped from a Norwegian supply ship off Nigeria last week.
Johansen and machinist Roger Bjerkås were among four men on board the Northern Comrade who were kidnapped by armed Nigerians angry over the way the country’s oil wealth is being distributed. All four were released this week, and came home with a harrowing tale to tell about their ordeal.
Nigerian activists have taken to attacking foreign vessels and oil rigs working in the Nigerian oil fields. The attack on the Northern Comrade was the latest in a string of such attacks in recent months.
"They operated with military precision and knocked on our doors with automatic pistols," Johansen told reporters on Friday. He and Bjerkås arrived back in Norway on Thursday after their release was negotiated.
The vessel was boarded after the pirates shot at it when the crew tried to start the engines and get away. Johansen said he and his colleagues had no choice but to surrender.
"I was taken out on deck with a gun at my neck," Johansen said. "They asked for money, and I gave them everything I had, around 5,000 US dollars plus some local currency, in an attempt to build goodwill."
The kidnappers also took the crew's mobile phones, but Bjerkås managed to send out an emergency call that warned the vessel's owner and Norwegian authorities before he, Johansen and two Ukrainian seafarers were taken to land.
They were taken to the remote village of Oribiri in the delta. "There were a lot of mosquitos and the water was filthy," Johansen said.
He said he felt relatively safe with the villagers, but "uncomfortable" when the youth hired in to carry out the kidnapping returned to the village, setting off a spate of quarrels and shooting.
The terms of the hostages' eventual release haven't been disclosed. Johansen and Bjerkås praised the Norwegian embassy staff's work at helping get them freed. The men were ultimately flown out of Nigeria on the president's private jet.
Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund/NTB"
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1426512.ece
"Freed hostages reveal details of their dramatic abduction
Pirates shot at the Norwegian supply ship that was attacked off the coast of Nigeria last week. Captain Jarle Johansen was taken off the vessel with an automatic pistol pointed at his neck.
Jarle Johansen (left) and Roger Bjerkås were among those kidnapped from a Norwegian supply ship off Nigeria last week.
Johansen and machinist Roger Bjerkås were among four men on board the Northern Comrade who were kidnapped by armed Nigerians angry over the way the country’s oil wealth is being distributed. All four were released this week, and came home with a harrowing tale to tell about their ordeal.
Nigerian activists have taken to attacking foreign vessels and oil rigs working in the Nigerian oil fields. The attack on the Northern Comrade was the latest in a string of such attacks in recent months.
"They operated with military precision and knocked on our doors with automatic pistols," Johansen told reporters on Friday. He and Bjerkås arrived back in Norway on Thursday after their release was negotiated.
The vessel was boarded after the pirates shot at it when the crew tried to start the engines and get away. Johansen said he and his colleagues had no choice but to surrender.
"I was taken out on deck with a gun at my neck," Johansen said. "They asked for money, and I gave them everything I had, around 5,000 US dollars plus some local currency, in an attempt to build goodwill."
The kidnappers also took the crew's mobile phones, but Bjerkås managed to send out an emergency call that warned the vessel's owner and Norwegian authorities before he, Johansen and two Ukrainian seafarers were taken to land.
They were taken to the remote village of Oribiri in the delta. "There were a lot of mosquitos and the water was filthy," Johansen said.
He said he felt relatively safe with the villagers, but "uncomfortable" when the youth hired in to carry out the kidnapping returned to the village, setting off a spate of quarrels and shooting.
The terms of the hostages' eventual release haven't been disclosed. Johansen and Bjerkås praised the Norwegian embassy staff's work at helping get them freed. The men were ultimately flown out of Nigeria on the president's private jet.
Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund/NTB"
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1426512.ece
