Pirates board Danish-owned ship in Gulf of Guinea
Pirates have attacked and boarded a Danish-owned ship in the Gulf of Guinea and all communications channels with the vessel are down, a spokesperson for shipping company Monjasa said on Tuesday.
All 16 crew members sought refuge in a safe room onboard the Monjasa Reformer vessel, the spokesperson said.
The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker, which was sitting idle, was attacked on Saturday about 140 miles west of the Republic of Congo’s Port Pointe-Noire.
The vessel is operated by Dubai-based Montec Ship Management, which is owned by Monjasa.
Montec reported the incident to a maritime cooperation centre operated by the British and French navies to maintain safety in the Gulf of Guinea.
The operator is working with all relevant maritime authorities in the region, including several navies, according to Monjasa.
The Gulf of Guinea has become a global piracy hotspot in recent years although cases have fallen there since 2021 as national authorities stepped up security efforts aided by foreign naval ships, according to the U.N. Security Council.
Denmark, which has big commercial shipping interests, deployed a frigate to the gulf in 2021 to protect shipping, but the frigate was pulled back last year after the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Louise Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Angus MacSwan)
Pirates hijack Iraqi ship stranded off Iranian coast
Pirates have hijacked an Iraqi ship that was stranded outside the country’s waters and took it to an unknown location, the MP for the Basra governorate said on Sunday.
Kadhim Finjan Al-Hammami said he received “authenticated pleas from the private owner of Iraqi tugboat T-4, to free his ship from pirates. The attackers had taken it to an unknown location, and demanded in an audio recording that he pay a ransom of $80,000.
“The owner of the hijacked ship explained that his ship ran aground at the Iranian coast, about seven miles north of Bushehr Port. The crew of a ship called Sohan stole its fuel and plundered its contents and equipment,” National Iraqi News Agency (NINA) quoted Al-Hammami as saying.
He said the Iraqi authorities have sent an urgent call for help to Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Center (MEMAC) in Bahrain.
Source: Arab News
Pirates in west Africa kidnap Greek tanker’s crew: company
Pirates have kidnapped over a dozen Ukrainian and Russian crew members on a Greek-owned tanker off the coast of Benin in west Africa, the company said Monday (July 20).
The Gulf of Guinea, which includes the Nigerian coast, is among the world’s most dangerous waters as pirates regularly loot ships and kidnap sailors for ransom.
Alison Management Corp said the MV Curacao Trader “was attacked by pirates approximately 210 miles (337.9km) off the coast of Benin on 17th July”.
“Thirteen out of its 19 Ukrainian and Russian crew members have been taken hostage by the pirates. As a result the ship is currently drifting with limited manpower on board,” the Athens-based company said.
Alison Management said a refrigerated carrier owned by the company had been sent to assist the tanker, adding that “no effort shall be spared” to secure the crew’s release.
Source: AFP