Egypt repatriated on Friday two Egyptian citizens, a naval engineer and a naval officer, who had been kidnapped by pirates off the Nigerian coast.

The Egyptians were part of a multinational crew that was kidnapped on 26 November when their cargo ship, Milan, was hijacked off the coast of the southern Baylesa state, en route to Cameroon.

Amr Mahmoud Abbas, the assistant Egyptian foreign minister for consular affairs and Egyptian expatriates, received naval officer Saad Shawki and naval engineer Kirollos Samir once they returned to the country, a statement by the foreign ministry read.

The two citizens were released “as a result of the efforts exerted by the Egyptian state, including the foreign ministry, through its embassy in Abuja,” the statement said.

The ministry affirmed that once it was informed about the incident, it started communication with all the relevant authorities in Nigeria, whom it described as being cooperative and displaying concern.

It added that the embassy’s staff had followed up on developments continuously with the Nigerian authorities and the company that owned the hijacked ship, as well as with the embassies of the home countries of the other victims.