Pirates release tanker with Russian crew

 MOSCOW, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Ministry¹ said Thursday that hijackers have released 23 Russian citizens onboard a Greek-owned oil tanker³ in Togolese waters.

"All of the crew, including 23 Russians, are safe now. The tanker will continue its voyage," said the ministry in a statement. The statement failed to say when the crew members were released.

The Russian crew and the Greek captain were released by the pirates who pumped out 3,000 tonnes of petrol before leaving, the crew company said.

Nobody on the tanker got injured during the hijack². The crew members were assessing the damage of the ship before repairing it, according to head of the crew company Oleg Kravchenko.

The Greek-owned oil tanker with 24 crew members aboard was seized only miles off the Togolese capital Lome on Tuesday morning.

The ship owner got in touch with the captain shortly after the attack and learned the crew members' lives were not in danger, the ministry said.

Togo's coast guard boats chased the seized tanker but failed to catch it, the ministry said earlier, adding preliminary information showed the ship was in international waters far from Nigeria after the attack.

It was at least the second major attack by pirates in less than two weeks in the oil-rich Gulf⁴ of Guinea, running from Guinea on Africa's northwestern tip to Angola in the south.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 hijack   

v.劫持，劫机，拦路抢劫

参考例句：

• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。
• The hijack take place just after the plane take off.劫持是飞机刚起飞后发生的。

3 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。