Following the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement, ten Turkish seafarers onboard the Paksoy 1 freighter were kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, on Saturday night, July 13. The ship is now on anchorage at the port Tema, Ghana. The Turkish Foreign Ministry is closely collaborating with authorities in Nigeria and Ghana to safely release the crew.
According to the vessel’s operator, Kadioglu Denizcilik, the freighter was attacked by 12 heavily-armed pirates while sailing from Cameroon to the Ivory Coast. In light of the pirates, the crew took hostage in the citadel, but the pirates threatened to kill them all if they stayed in the room. Thus, the pirates kidnapped ten crewmembers and allowed the additional eight members to remain onboard.
In the meantime, the operator informed that there were no injuries or casualties reported, and is now working to secure the abductees’ release, but the company hasn’t contacted with the victims yet.
Our ministries are making efforts to bring our friends [home] as soon as possible
… added Kadioglu maritime operations manager, Numan Paksoy.
The 1997-built Paksoy-1 is a geared coastal freighter of about 9,000 dwt. She is the only vessel listed under Kadioglu’s ownership in the Equasis database.
In general, although piracy in Nigeria has declined in 2019, in comparison to the numbers seen in 2018, according to IMB’s report. In the Gulf of Guinea and the waters off the coast of Nigeria, 21 pirate incidents were recorded in 2019, declined by 31 in the same period in 2018.
However, the Gulf of Guinea remains the most dangerous area of the world for maritime piracy, especially the region near the coast of Nigeria.
