Thiruvananthapuram (The Hawk): Equatorial Guinea has detained a Norwegian oil ship, along with its 26 crew members, three of whom are from Kerala.
The sailors who have spoken to their families claim that they were held on suspicion of piracy in relation to crude oil.
The Norwegian ship Heroic Idun, which had arrived at the AKPO Terminal in Nigeria on August 8 to fill up with crude oil, was held when it set sail after being caught by a naval ship from Guinea.
The Norwegian ship owners reportedly offered $2,000,000 as ransom money, but the Guinea Navy refused, according to information that arrived from the ship.
Navigating officer Vijith, who is from Kollam's Sasthamkotta, is one of the crew members from Kerala. Speaking to reporters aboard the ship, he stated that they were concerned about the ship being turned over to Nigerian officials and that they believed Nigerians were responsible for the ship's detention.
"A Nigerian naval ship has anchored close to our ship, and we are unsure of our future. He continued, "We want the Indian government to step in and save us.
The Norwegian ship was still in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa on Sunday, according to international ship tracking websites.
The Gulf of Guinea is rife with oil piracy, according to insiders in the shipping sector.
In the meantime, V. Muraleedharan, the state minister for foreign affairs, informed reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the Indian government would return the Indian sailors who were imprisoned in Guinea. In order to stop the sailors from being turned over to the Nigerian Navy, he added that ministry officials had been in touch with local government representatives.
(Inputs from Agencies)