World News for Students of English

02-02-2021 07:00

Piracy in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea has been on the rise. Recently, pirates have killed one sailor and kidnapped 15 people from a Turkish container ship.

Pirates come from Nigeria, from a region that produces the majority of the country’s petroleum; however, the area is underdeveloped, heavily polluted, and it has high unemployment. Over the last five years, Nigeria’s gone through two recessions due to falling oil prices, and illegal activities such as oil theft and piracy are becoming attractive for people who are desperate for money.

River creeks provide an escape route and a place to hide a kidnapped crew, and pirates know that companies will pay large sums in ransom. During 2020, pirates in the gulf seized 130 sailors in 22 separate incidents. The Gulf of Guinea borders 20 countries and it is a key route for everything from soda to steel; therefore, countries in the region try to coordinate efforts to stop the piracy.

Difficult words: piracy (when pirates attack and rob ships at sea), petroleum (oil that is found under the surface of the Earth or under the seabed), ransom (money that is demanded or paid for the release of someone who had been kidnapped).

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