ALERT: 17 Chinese, Ukrainian seamen kidnapped off Cameroon coast

Yaoundé. Nine Chinese and eight Ukrainian seamen were abducted on Thursday when two merchant vessels came under attack in Cameroonian waters in the Gulf of Guinea, sources said Friday.

"Seventeen Chinese and Ukrainians were kidnapped... (of whom) nine (are) Chinese who were abducted on one of the ships," an official in the port of Douala told AFP. A security official, likewise speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the account.

The abduction was reported on Thursday by sources in the Cameroonian navy and the country's port service, who said their number and nationalities were unknown