ABUJA, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- At least 18 passengers on a trip to Cameroon were rescued by Nigerian troops after a group of suspected sea pirates attacked and hijacked their boat on Monday, the army said.
Semi Sokoya, assistant director of public relations at the Headquarters 13 Brigade Nigerian Army, told local media in Calabar, the capital of Nigeria's Cross River State, that the incident occurred along the Calabar-Cameroon waterways, prompting the military to respond to a distress call.
The suspected pirates, operating in two speed boats and a wooden boat, intercepted the commercial boat and kidnapped the passengers around Kombo, a fishing port within the Cameroonian waters, Sokoya said.
But the Nigerian army, upon receiving the information, deployed troops from the 13 Brigade to respond promptly and pursued the suspects, leading to a gunfight that caused one of the pirates' speed boats to capsize.
"The pirates abandoned the victims and fled into the surrounding creeks. All the passengers were rescued unharmed," Sokoya said. ■