A Bosnian national and a dozen crew members have been taken hostage after a Swiss cargo ship was attacked by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, according to the company that owns the ship.

Massoel Shipping said in a statement Sunday that the ship, the MV Glarus, was attacked early Saturday while sailing from Lagos to Port Harcourt with a shipment of wheat.

The pirates reportedly struck about 45 nautical miles south-southwest of Bonny Island.  

“Having destroyed much of the vessel's communications equipment the criminal gang departed taking 12 of the 19 crew complement as hostage,” Massoel Shipping said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's embassies in Bern and Cairo are actively cooperating with the Swiss and Nigerian authorities and the Massoel Shipping company.

Bosnia’s diplomatic representatives are familiarised with the details of the case including the identity of the Bosnian citizen but they refuse to give out any information for the public.

N1 learned that more details concerning the case will be known during the day, and according to the already available information a special team of negotiators has already been deployed in order to resolve the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Noémie Charton, a spokeswoman for Switzerland's foreign ministry, told CNN the ministry was aware of the attack.    

Bosnian Embassy in Bern is in contact with representatives of the Swiss shipping company, Bosnia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed, answering the question about the abduction of a Swiss freighter ship with one Bosnian citizen on board.

“Apart from the fact that the Embassy has confirmed that one of the workers on board is a Bosnian citizen, other information is still being investigated and we cannot speak of any activities underaken by the competent institutions for the hostages’ safe and quick release,” the Foreign Ministry said.