Marine engineer rescued from pirates in Nigeria

Santosh Bhardwaj, the marine engineer who was kidnapped by pirates near Nigeria in March this year, has been rescued. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said this on Twitter yesterday.

Bhardwaj, working in Singapore-based shipping company Transocean Limited, was kidnapped along with four of his



colleagues of different nationalities when their ship Sampatiki was at sea, around 30 nautical miles off Nigerian capital Lagos.

Bhardwaj's relatives had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, to get the marine engineer freed. Bhardwaj hails from Varanasi.