A petrol attendant fills a car at a Total petrol station in Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. French oil company Total SA said Monday it had sold its stake in an offshore oil field near Nigeria for $2.5 billion to the Chinese state-run firm Sinopec Corp., a sign of the China's growing stakes in the West African nation's oil production. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
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A petrol attendant fills a car at a Total petrol station in Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. French oil company Total SA said Monday it had sold its stake in an offshore oil field near Nigeria for $2.5 billion to the Chinese state-run firm Sinopec Corp., a sign of the China's growing stakes in the West African nation's oil production. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
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A petrol attendant sells fuel to motorcycle taxis at a Total petrol station in Lagos, Nigeria, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. French oil company Total SA said Monday it had sold its stake in an offshore oil field near Nigeria for $2.5 billion to the Chinese state-run firm Sinopec Corp., a sign of the China's growing stakes in the West African nation's oil production. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
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Map locates kidnapping, Nigeria
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A shirt bearing the image of the late Isaac Fadoyebo is seen on a man at the ceremony honoring the late World War II combatant in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Fadoyebo, who died in November at the age of 86, represents one of the last so-called “Burma Boys” still living through West and East Africa. On Thursday, his family and friends gathered for a final worship service and celebration of his life, as new attention has been paid to his sacrifices and those of other Africans drawn into the fighting. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
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A woman sings at a church service for the late Isaac Fadoyebo, in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Fadoyebo, who died in November at the age of 86, represents one of the last so-called “Burma Boys” still living through West and East Africa. On Thursday, his family and friends gathered for a final worship service and celebration of his life, as new attention has been paid to his sacrifices and those of other Africans drawn into the fighting. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
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A man stands at the entrance to an overgrown cemetery containing Nigeria's war dead in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Isaac Fadoyebo, who died in November at the age of 86, represents one of the last so-called “Burma Boys” still living through West and East Africa. On Thursday, his family and friends gathered for a final worship service and celebration of his life, as new attention has been paid to his sacrifices and those of other Africans drawn into the fighting. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
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This undated photo provided Monday, Jan. 4, 2013 by Sea Tanker Shipping shows the French-owned oil tanker Gascogne. The tanker, missing off Ivory Coast with 17 sailors on board, likely has been hijacked, an official with an international piracy watchdog said Monday Feb 4 2013, in what may be the latest attack by criminal gangs targeting the ships to steal their valuable cargo. Details remained scarce about the fate of the ship, flagged in Luxembourg. (AP Photo/Sea Tanker Shipping)
Shipper: 3 sailors kidnapped off Nigeria are freed
KANO, Nigeria (AP) — Three sailors — including two Russians — have been freed following weeks in captivity after pirates raided their cargo ship off the coasts of Nigeria and Cameroon, a shipping company said Monday.
Carisbrooke Shipping Ltd. of the United Kingdom said in a statement Monday that the men had been released after the Feb. 7 attack on the MV Esther C.
"The three officers were confirmed as being safe and in good spirits on March 11 after 31 days in captivity," the company said.
The company did not say whether a ransom had been paid to secure the sailors' freedom. Such kidnappings typically end with a ransom payment being made, usually in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Pirates attacked the vessel some 80 miles (130 kilometers) off Nigeria's coast. The company previously said the pirates stole the sailors' personal belongings before leaving with the three sailors.
Russia's Foreign Ministry previously identified two of the sailors as being Russians.
The attack on the cargo ship came in a series of escalating assaults in the Gulf of Guinea, which follows the African continent's southward curve from Liberia to Gabon.
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts. Last year, London-based Lloyd's Market Association — an umbrella group of insurers — listed Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia, where two decades of war and anarchy allowed piracy to flourish. But as piracy has dropped in recent months off Somalia's coast, it's only risen in the Gulf of Guinea.
Pirates in West Africa also have been more willing to use violence in their robberies, as they often target the cargo, not the crew for ransom as is the case off Somalia. Experts say many of the pirates come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality to thrive and there's a bustling black market for stolen crude oil.
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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .
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