West African pirates take hostages in two separate ship attacks
FOUR crew members of a Panamanian-flagged chemical tanker hijacked off Nigeria on March 5, have been released in good health, after a ransom by the shipowner is believed to have been paid.
The unidentified owner of the unnamed chemical tanker was reported to have told the Hellenic Coast Guard that the crew, including three Greek nationals and one Filipino, were freed on March 28.
The tanker with 22 crew members and one passenger on board at the time of the incident was hijacked by a group of armed pirates while the ship was underway 32 miles from Bonny Island, Nigeria, reported London's Tanker Operator.
The pirates left the ship shortly after boarding, taking four crew members with them. Once the pirates had departed, the remaining crew members managed to move the tanker to a safe port.
In a separate hijacking, five crew members were allegedly kidnapped from the 6,436-dwt tanker Sampitiki, after pirates attacked the vessel off the Niger Delta on March 26, according to the UK-based security agency Asket.
At least eight pirates boarded the Liberia-flagged chemical tanker after midnight and remained on the vessel for four hours. They then abandoned the ship with the hostages 30 miles off the coast of Bonga while the tanker was travelling from Port Harcourt to Luba in Equatorial Guinea. The tanker is now thought to be heading for Lagos.
Last week, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari named Rivers State - the region nearest the most of pirate attacks - the most dangerous in the nation, outstripping regions controlled by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
"Some [Niger Delta militants] said they are ready to drop their arms and join the rest of the nation to build it. But part of them are still sabotaging installations which is making investments in that lucrative area of Nigeria difficult . . . So, the environment for investment is being sabotaged by ourselves, Nigerians. We are doing our best with the military by trying to persuade them to join the rest of the country because in unity lies our strength," he said, speaking to the Nigerian Vanguard newspaper.
FOUR crew members of a Panamanian-flagged chemical tanker hijacked off Nigeria on March 5, have been released in good health, after a ransom by the shipowner is believed to have been paid.
The unidentified owner of the unnamed chemical tanker was reported to have told the Hellenic Coast Guard that the crew, including three Greek nationals and one Filipino, were freed on March 28.
The tanker with 22 crew members and one passenger on board at the time of the incident was hijacked by a group of armed pirates while the ship was underway 32 miles from Bonny Island, Nigeria, reported London's Tanker Operator.
The pirates left the ship shortly after boarding, taking four crew members with them. Once the pirates had departed, the remaining crew members managed to move the tanker to a safe port.
In a separate hijacking, five crew members were allegedly kidnapped from the 6,436-dwt tanker Sampitiki, after pirates attacked the vessel off the Niger Delta on March 26, according to the UK-based security agency Asket.
At least eight pirates boarded the Liberia-flagged chemical tanker after midnight and remained on the vessel for four hours. They then abandoned the ship with the hostages 30 miles off the coast of Bonga while the tanker was travelling from Port Harcourt to Luba in Equatorial Guinea. The tanker is now thought to be heading for Lagos.
Last week, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari named Rivers State - the region nearest the most of pirate attacks - the most dangerous in the nation, outstripping regions controlled by the terrorist group Boko Haram.
"Some [Niger Delta militants] said they are ready to drop their arms and join the rest of the nation to build it. But part of them are still sabotaging installations which is making investments in that lucrative area of Nigeria difficult . . . So, the environment for investment is being sabotaged by ourselves, Nigerians. We are doing our best with the military by trying to persuade them to join the rest of the country because in unity lies our strength," he said, speaking to the Nigerian Vanguard newspaper.