A maritime security alert has been issued for the Gulf of Guinea after fourteen armed pirates approached and boarded a chemical tanker off the coast of Benin.
A maritime security alert has been issued for the Gulf of Guinea after fourteen armed pirates approached and boarded a chemical tanker off the coast of Benin.
The pirates took control of the crew members and ordered the master to sail the tanker to Gabon in order to offload the cargo. After several failed attempts to offload the cargo near Gabon, Warri and Lagos in Nigeria, the pirates abandoned their plans and instead stole the crew members' personal belongings and took the master and two engineers with them ashore. The tanker was left 3 nautical miles of Badagri, off the coast of Nigeria. The three abducted crew members were later allowed to return to their ship. The crew received some injuries and the bridge and crew cabins were physically damaged.
In a separate incident three persons approached a chemical tanker at anchor, three nautical miles off Lagos, fired their weapons in the air and demanded the gangways to be lowered. The master refused and movedaway from the anchorage and no one was injured during the incident.
Vigilance, crew preparation, watch rotas and security measures are all recommended when approaching ports in the Gulf of Guinea.
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