Gulf of Guinea Pirates: 4 of Ship's Crew Taken by Pirates Off Nigeria

BBC headline with odd quote marks: Pirates raid 'Italian' ship off Nigeria and take crew

Pirates have kidnapped four sailors after attacking their vessel off Nigeria's coast, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has said.

The hostages were foreigners - three of them Italian, AP news agency reports.

Gunmen stormed the vessel off Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region, before seizing the four and fleeing, the IMB said.

Kidnapping is a lucrative enterprise worth millions of dollars a year in Nigeria, Africa's main oil producer.

Gulf of Guinea Pirates: Part of Ship's Crew Taken by Pirates Off Nigeria

Reuters reports Nigeria pirates kidnap 6 Russians, one Estonian

Pirates off the coast of Nigeria have kidnapped six Russians and an Estonian during an attack on their ship, Bourbon, the French shipping company operating the vessel said on Wednesday.

Another nine crew members were safe and had reached the Nigerian port of Onne, in the oil-rich Niger Delta, said the spokeswoman for Bourbon, which supplies vessels to the offshore oil industry. The seven were abducted on Monday.