Pirates reportedly kidnapped five crewmembers from a cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria on Sunday.
The International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB-PRC) confirmed that a group of armed pirates board a general a general cargo ship underway around 15nm SW of Bonny Island, Nigeria on July 30.
The incident was reported to the Nigerian navy which responded and located the ship.
It was reported that some crewmembers were missing, the IMB-PRC report said.
The Nigerian navy vessel towed the ship to a safe port for investigation.
Media reported the vessel as the Panama-flagged MV Oya 1.
The pirates were said to have abducted two officers and three crewmembers.
The vessel is the latest to be boarded or fired on by armed pirates off the coast of Nigeria this year.
Last month, IMB-PRC reported that pirates in Nigeria abducted 31 crew in five reported incidents so far in 2017, not including the five crewmembers taken on Sunday.
Violence against crews also continues to be a concern in the region, with half of all reports of vessels being fired upon worldwide coming from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.
