31st March, 2023
Danish oil and shipping company, Monjasa, said on Friday that some crew members on its Liberian-flagged vessel were abducted by pirates 260 kilometers west of Congo’s Port Pointe-Noire last weekend.
The 135-metre oil and chemical tanker had 16 crew members on board at the time of the attack, the company said in the statement released on Friday.
The Monjasa Reformer was located by the French Navy in the Gulf of Guinea on Thursday, the company said in the statement.
By then, the pirates had left the tanker, taking some crew members with them, though it was unclear how many people were missing.
The remaining crew members were unhurt and the ship’s cargo undamaged.
The Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa is one of the most dangerous areas in the world for merchant ships, which are in danger of being robbed by pirates.
However, there has been a fall in the number of cases recently.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, there were 19 attacks on ships in the Gulf in 2022, after 35 in the previous year and 84 at the peak in 2020.(dpa/NAN)