Pirates kidnapped 12 crew members from a Swiss merchant vessel on Saturday in Nigerian waters, the ship's operator said in a statement. A number of foreigners have been kidnapped in the last few years in the southern Niger Delta region, source of most of the crude oil which is the mainstay of West Africa's biggest economy. The statement did not give the nationalities of the crew members. A naval officer mans a machine gun on a boat off the Atlantic coast in Nigeria's Bayelsa state Dec. 19, 2013. (Stringer/Reuters)Switzerland's foreign ministry said it had learned from the company that none of the crew members were from Switzerland itself.

Source: CBC News September 22, 2018 19:30 UTC