The French Navy has located the Danish product tanker, Monjasa Refomer, that pirates boarded and hijacked, kidnapping six crew members in the Gulf of Guinea last weekend.
According to Atlantic Maritime Prefecture (AMP), the Premier Maître L’ Her, their high seas patrol boat, spotted the chemical and oil tanker while assisting in the disembarkation of its ten crew members on Friday 31th Mar.
Going to the tanker’s last known position, the French Navy’s Premier Maître L’Her high seas patrol vessel (PHM), engaged in Operation Corymbe, was carrying out searches for the ship in the north-east of the Gulf of Guinea, with the support of the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Monrovia, as well as the navies of the region, and of the MDAT-GoG.
..said the AMP.
According to the UK-based “Maritime Domain Awareness” for Trade Gulf of Guinea (MDAT-GoG), armed individuals boarded the ship last Saturday, approximately 140 nautical miles west of Pointe Noire in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This resulted in an immediate rescue mission involving the dispatch of a doctor and nurse for medical purposes and an agreement with the owner to sail back to Lomé under the escort of NNS Gongola. It is still unknown where the kidnappers have taken those they have abducted.
