Baltic States – CIS, Legislation, Lithuania, Transport

"We were just notified by the shipowner that the hostages have been freed," said Vaitkus.

The released Lithuanian citizens are now undergoing medical tests in a local hospital and are in good condition, the vice-chancellor cited the shipowner as saying.

Officials of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry expect to contact the Lithuanian sailors shortly.

The Solarte vessel owned by a Russian company and transporting frozen fish between Nigeria and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands was attacked in mid-October at the entry to a Nigerian port of Port Harcourt. Two Lithuanian and two Ukrainian sailors were abducted and taken in an unknown direction. Registered in the Bahamas, the ship was sailing under the flag of the Comoro Islands.

A total of 16 Lithuanian citizens were aboard the ship, which had the majority of its crew consisting of Lithuanian and Ukrainian citizens. The abducted four included the ship's captain, a Ukrainian citizen, his Lithuanian deputy and two sailors.