Less than 48 hours after a crude carrier was released of her shores by pirates, another set of dare-devil pirates has attacked two supply vessels off the Nigerian coast in quick succession.
Our usually dependable sources confirmed yesterday that the first attack actually occurred on Monday when a supply vessel which had a 17 crew on board was hijacked about 40 nautical miles from the coast. The ship and the crew were held for about 11 hours before being released.
Less than 48 hours after a crude carrier was released of her shores by pirates, another set of dare-devil pirates has attacked two supply vessels off the Nigerian coast in quick succession.
Our usually dependable sources confirmed yesterday that the first attack actually occurred on Monday when a supply vessel which had a 17 crew on board was hijacked about 40 nautical miles from the coast. The ship and the crew were held for about 11 hours before being released.
Shipping Position Daily was told that the following day, that is, Tuesday, six armed pirates launched a skiff from a fishing trawler and boarded a supply vessel towing a barge about 20 nautical miles south of the Pennington oil terminal.
According to sources, the crew mustered in the citadel for about one and half hours, before emerging to find their possessions stolen and minor damage done to their vessel.
The nationalities of those held could not be ascertained as at press time.
The attack has consequently earned Nigeria another round of security alert, for what security experts explained as the unacceptable attacks on these supply vessels off Nigeria coast within 24 hours of each other.
In its immediate reaction to the attack, the International Maritime Bureau said that, “the attack is just the latest to target Nigeria and West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, where piracy has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts. Some believe militants once involved in fighting in the Nigeria oil delta now take part in the piracy.”
According to IMB director, Pottengal Mukundan, "Nigerian piracy is increasing in incidence and extending in range". "While the number of reported incidents in Nigeria is still less than Somalia and hijacked vessels are under control of the pirates for days rather than months, the level of violence against crew is dangerously high."
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said that it recorded a total of 83 piracy and sea robbery attacks, including other unlawful acts at sea, in 2011.
The attacks were mostly recorded from the country’s high risk areas of Bonny, Calabar, Port Harcourt, Warri and Lagos pilotage districts. Lagos pilotage district accounted for six of the reported attacks that resulted to varying degrees of injuries to ship crew, loss of lives of seafarers, loss of cash and shipboard equipment.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that, only last Sunday, a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC); BW Rhine that was not seized on Nigerian waters or off its coast, was released along with her 24- member crew off the coast of Nigeria
The 75,678 dwt product tanker that was built in 2008 was forcibly removed from her safe anchorage position off Lome, Togo.
Although an official statement issued by owners of the ill-fated tanker; BW Maritime did not give the exact location where she was rescued off the Nigerian coast, it never-the-less confirmed the Master of BW Rhine’ Captain Dheeraj Sharma as saying that the vessel was been held under duress while the cargo was being stolen.
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