According to reports, six pirates boarded the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker “Duke” on December 15, Sunday, which was sailing from Luanda, Angola, to Lomé, Togo and abducted all 20 but one crewmembers; This marks the largest incident taking place in West Africa for 2019.
Specifically, the six pirates boarded the tanker which at the time was sailing about 115 nautical miles south-east of Lomé and kidnapped all but one crewmember, which is assumed to be of Nigerian nationality.
For the time being, the methodology used for the abduction remains unknown, but Dryad Maritime suggests that the pirates might have used a mothership for their operations, given the fact that the incident took place in a significant distant offshore.
This is the largest abduction incident taking place in West Africa for 2019, following the similar “Nave Constellation” abduction when pirates abducted 19 Indian nationals. In the specific event, the vessel was boarded and four personnel were kidnapped, three of which were recently released with the fourth dying from illness whilst captive.
This incident is the 10th maritime security incident and 4th kidnapping incident in the waters off Togo within 2019
… Dryad Global commented.
Following, another striking example of a major number of seafarers being abducted occurred in February 2018, when 22 Indian seafarers were kidnapped from the Marine Express offshore from Benin.
In addition, Dryad Maritime further addressed that the waters of Togo and Benin are seeing a very slight reduction in the number of incidents that occurred, in comparison to 2018.
However, with five kidnaps within 2019 against zero in 2018, there has been a significant increase in serious maritime crime and there is a direct increase to the risk facing vessel and crews within this area
… Dryad noted.
During October, ICC’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported 119 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships for 2019, in comparison to the 156 incidents that were reported in the same period in 2018, with the Gulf of Guinea remaining a high risk area for piracy and armed robbery.
Overall, the 2019 incidents include 95 vessels boarded, 10 vessels fired upon, 10 attempted attacks, and four vessels hijacked. The number of crew taken hostage through the first nine months has declined from 112 in 2018 to 49 in 2019.
Despite the decrease in the number of the incidents, attacks with guns and knives remain stable; Specifically, in 2019 there were 24 knife-related and 35 gun-related incidents reported in 2019, compared to 25 and 37 for the first nine months of 2018.
