ALL six seafarers who were kidnapped from the 13,702-dwt Liberian flagged oil tanker Monjasa Reformer in the Gulf of Guinea last month have been returned safely, the ship's owner, Monjasa, has announced.
The seafarers were recovered from an undisclosed location in Nigeria, said the Singapore-based company which has a 30-vessel fleet of tankers and bunkering barges.
The Monjasa Reformer, with 16 crew members on board, was attacked by pirates on March 25, some 140 nautical miles west of Port Pointe-Noire, Congo, before disappearing.
A French Navy patrol vessel located the missing tanker four days later off of Sao Tome & Principe, 90 nautical miles south of Bonny, Nigeria. Upon boarding the vessel, the boarding team discovered that pirates had made off with six of the vessel's crew members. The vessel was managed by Montec Ship Management,
'All recovered crew members are in a relatively good health condition given the difficult circumstances they have been under in the last more than five weeks,' said Monjasa CEO, Anders Ostergaard. 'They have all been receiving medical checks and are now being repatriated to their home countries to reunite with their families.'
According to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre, in the first quarter of 2023 the Gulf of Guinea had just five reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery, compared to eight in 2022 and 16 in 2021.
Despite the declining trend, the IMB said the Monjasa Reformer incident highlights the continued need for vigilance and swift naval responses when incidents are reported.
SeaNews Turkey
The seafarers were recovered from an undisclosed location in Nigeria, said the Singapore-based company which has a 30-vessel fleet of tankers and bunkering barges.
The Monjasa Reformer, with 16 crew members on board, was attacked by pirates on March 25, some 140 nautical miles west of Port Pointe-Noire, Congo, before disappearing.
A French Navy patrol vessel located the missing tanker four days later off of Sao Tome & Principe, 90 nautical miles south of Bonny, Nigeria. Upon boarding the vessel, the boarding team discovered that pirates had made off with six of the vessel's crew members. The vessel was managed by Montec Ship Management,
'All recovered crew members are in a relatively good health condition given the difficult circumstances they have been under in the last more than five weeks,' said Monjasa CEO, Anders Ostergaard. 'They have all been receiving medical checks and are now being repatriated to their home countries to reunite with their families.'
According to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre, in the first quarter of 2023 the Gulf of Guinea had just five reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery, compared to eight in 2022 and 16 in 2021.
Despite the declining trend, the IMB said the Monjasa Reformer incident highlights the continued need for vigilance and swift naval responses when incidents are reported.
SeaNews Turkey