Nine sailors were abducted after armed pirates boarded a Gabonese-flagged fishing trawler in Gabonese waters during the early hours of Saturday, 10 January 2026, according to the country’s authorities.
The vessel, IB Fish 7, was fishing about seven nautical miles southwest of Ekwata when three armed individuals boarded it at around 2:00 a.m.
The attackers targeted specific crew members before fleeing the scene.
The kidnapped sailors included five Chinese nationals and four Indonesians. Six other crew members, of Chinese, Indonesian and Burkinabe nationality, were left on board following the attack.
After being alerted, Gabonese naval and maritime security forces launched a response. The trawler was located and escorted safely to the port of Owendo in Libreville.
An investigation has been opened by the Libreville Public Prosecutor’s Office to determine how the boarding took place and to identify those responsible.
The government is also working with international partners to locate the abducted crew and secure their release.
The Navy Chief of Staff, Hubert Bekale Meyong, described the incident as the latest case of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, a region that remains vulnerable despite a decline in attacks in recent years due to regional and European naval cooperation.
The proximity of the attack to Gabon’s coastline has highlighted the continuing security threat in the area.
IB Fish 7 is operated by EBOMAF, a Burkina Faso-based company with business interests across West Africa.
The company recently opened a tuna processing plant in Gabon to support local production of higher-value goods.
The Gulf of Guinea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, stretches more than 5,700 kilometres from Senegal to Angola and is a key route for oil and gas shipments.
The waters are also used by fishing vessels, recreational boats and tourists, particularly for whale-watching off Gabon’s coast.
In February last year, three sailors were also kidnapped from a fishing trawler in waters near Libreville.
