MOSCOW, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Investigative Committee on Saturday has organized a procedural check on information relating to the abduction of six Russian sailors in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to the committee, a Panama-flagged ship with 24 crew members on board adrift in the Gulf of Guinea was attacked by unidentified persons overnight Tuesday, during which six crew members were taken hostage.

All the abducted sailors are Russian nationals, the Russian Embassy in Benin said on its Facebook page, adding that the rest of the crew are safe and the ship has left the territorial waters of Benin and Nigeria.

The committee said it has also ordered its international cooperation department to work with the Russian Foreign Ministry to establish all circumstances of the incident as quickly as possible.

The Russian Embassies in Nigeria and Benin are in touch with local law enforcement agencies and the ship owner to locate the hostages in the hopes of releasing them as soon as possible, the foreign ministry said in a statement.