Skip to main content

More pirate attacks off West Africa

08 Mar 2019


The waters off West Africa continue to pose seafarers with threats of piracy and armed robbery. The most recent incidents reported to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) worldwide 24-hour Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) indicate the dangers.

Armed pirates boarded a tanker around 113 nautical miles off Lagos, Nigeria on 2 March. The alarm was raised and all crew mustered in the citadel. On receiving information about the incident, the IMB PRC informed the Nigerian authorities, who dispatched a naval patrol boat for assistance. The naval team boarded the tanker and confirmed all crew safe, and the tanker resumed her passage.

  • Two skiffs with 16 armed men chased, fired on and attempted to board a tanker around 69 nautical miles off Brass, Nigeria on 27 February. The alarm was raised, security procedures activated and non-essential crew mustered in the citadel. A nearby security vessel responded to the master's call, and the skiffs abandoned their attempt and moved away.
  • Skiffs approached a tanker at high speed around 70 nautical miles off Brass, Nigeria on 27 February and opened fire. Onboard Nigerian naval personnel returned fire, and the skiffs retreated and moved away.
  • Around four to six armed pirates in a speedboat chased and fired on a container vessel around 80 nautical miles off Brass, Nigeria on 21 February. The alarm was raised and non-essential crew mustered in the citadel. The vessel made evasive manoeuvres and prevented a boarding.
  • Five armed pirates attacked and boarded a landing craft around 300 nautical miles off Bayelsa, Nigeria on 3 February, kidnapped three crew members and escaped. The Nigerian Navy dispatched a naval boat to assist the vessel and escorted it to a safe anchorage. The three kidnapped crew members were released safely on 1 March.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All attacks and suspicious sightings should be reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre, tel: +603 2031 0014 (24 hours), email: imbkl@icc-ccs.org

မွတ္ခ်က္အသစ္မ်ားတင္ျခင္း

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.