South Korea has deployed an anti-piracy naval vessel to the sea off Ghana, and is cooperating with other nations to rescue three South Korean sailors supposedly kidnapped by pirates, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said late Saturday.

The ministry said unidentified pirates appeared to have kidnapped the three Korean sailors, along with one Greek national and one Ghanaian national, on Monday (local time) and used a speed boat to take them away.

An official from the ministry told The Korea Herald that the ministry is yet to identify the whereabouts of the speed boat and the Korean sailors, as well as what the pirates want and who they are, as of Sunday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent Munmu the Great, a South Korean anti-piracy warship which has been operating in waters off Oman’s Port of Salalah, to the nearby area in the search and rescue effort. It is scheduled to arrive in the nearby sea on April 16. 

The pirates are yet to contact the owner of the ship or the Korean government to demand a ransom for the release of the Koreans. The ministry is trying to make contact with the pirates, the ministry official said.

Those kidnapped are believed to have been taken hostage at Bayelsa in Nigeria, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the ship was believed to be seized by Nigerian pirates. The Foreign Ministry’s official said on condition of anonymity that the pirates are presumed to be armed.

The three Korean sailors were working with over 40 crew members, mostly from Ghana, on a 500-ton fishing boat named Marine 711 in waters off Ghana when nine pirates hijacked the ship on Monday (local time), according to the ministry.

The pirates steered the Marine 711, owned by a Korean national and registered in Ghana, toward the waters of Nigeria. They abandoned the vessel as the Nigerian Navy sent a warning and transferred the three Koreans and two other foreigners to a separate speed boat to get away on Tuesday, the ministry said.

The Marine 711 arrived at the Port Of Tema on the eastern coast of Ghana on Wednesday. Some 40 people onboard -- mostly Ghanaians -- were released there, according to the ministry.

President Moon has ordered all-out efforts to secure the South Koreans’ release, the ministry said.

“The government is making diplomatic efforts to locate our nationals and secure their release by closely cooperating with local countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Benin, as well as the US and the European Union,” the ministry said.

According to the ministry, the pirates earlier attempted to seize two Greek ships before hijacking the Marine 711 but failed to do so. In the process, they captured and held hostage two Greeks from the ships. One of them is thought to be onboard the speed boat.

(laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)