Six Russian sailors who were kidnapped off the Nigerian coast are in good health and are being treated “normally” by their captors, a Russian diplomat in Nigeria said on Thursday.

“According to the ship’s owner, the sailors are being kept together, they feel well and are being treated normally,” said Alexander Chernov, Russia’s charge d’affaires ad interim in Nigeria.

The Bourbon Liberty 249 tugboat, owned by French company Bourbon, was attacked by gunmen in Nigerian territorial waters on October 15. The pirates took the senior crew members hostage - six Russians and one Estonian - evidently for ransom.

Nine sailors, whose nationalituies were not disclosed, managed to escape.