The string of attacks in the Gulf of Guinea continues as pirates attempted to board a tanker early yesterday while underway some 36 nautical miles south west of Bayelsa coast, Nigeria.
Specifically, a group of armed pirates in a speedboat chased and fired upon a tanker underway, according to the Maritime Trade and Information Sharing Centre for the Gulf of Guinea (MTISC-GoG).
However, as the ship employed anti-piracy maneuvers and due to the presence of Navy personnel onboard, the attack was aborted.
The ship’s crew is reported to be safe and unharmed. The name of the ship has not been disclosed.
The attempted attack follows a successful one on Tuesday and an aborted one on Wednesday, according to MTISC-GoG.
With regards to the Wednesday attack, it said: “The MTISC-GOG has received a report from a vessel, that a speedboat was approaching the vessel in pos: 03.54.1 N & 005.17.6 E at 00:20 LT.
“The armed guards onboard the vessel opened fire for preventing the pirates from boarding, and the pirates aborted the attack. The vessel is proceeding to her destination. No crew were harmed.”
It said the Tuesday attack was against an unidentified vessel at anchorage “at Matadi anchorage area in Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The robbers boarded the vessel and succeeded to steal some of the vessel’s property and cargo before they fled. No crew were harmed,” the information sharing centre said.
SHIPS & PORTS DAILY reported last week that pirate attacks have become a daily occurrence in the Gulf of Guinea especially off Nigeria’s coast.
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.