A total of 14 crew members were abducted from two vessels in two separate piracy attacks in the Gulf of Guinea on 2 July, according to reports by ReCAAP Focal Point (Singapore). The first occurred on a FPSO anchored at Okwori field offshore, Nigeria and the second on a general cargo ship while drifting in the Gulf of Guinea.
According to reports, another Nigerian pirate accident took place in the Gulf of Guinea; This time, pirates attacked the FPSO Sendje Berge and kidnapped nine Nigerian nationals.
Dryad reports that the fishing vessel Panofi Frontiner has been attacked by several gunmen on board one speed boat 61nm South of Cotonou Port.
The US Government issued a warning about the risk posed by pirates to boats and oil installations in the southern Gulf of Mexico.
During the past few years, there has been a singificant fall in piracy and armed robbery incidents off East Africa. However, the threat has not entirely gone away, as recent incidents indicate.
Following the piracy incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, the Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) expressed its concern at the the ineffectiveness of the international community to address the continuing piracy crisis.
Nine Georgian sailors who were kidnapped by pirates from a ship flying the Panamese flag in Nigeria have been released and will return to their homeland.
Armed pirates boarded the product tanker Tosna Star and robbed it, while it was off the port of Port-au-Prince, Haiti last Sunday, according to one of its crewmembers.
A total of six pirates attacked a Stolt Tankers tanker, named Stolt Apal, 75 nautical miles off Yemen’s coast on May 17.
Reporting indicates that the cargo vessel Rio Mitong has been attacked by a single speedboat with an unknown number of persons onboard. The perpetrators kidnapoed of two crew members.
