10 sailors from a merchant ship were captured by pirates in the latest attack in a slew of abductions along the coast of southern Nigeria.
The International Maritime Bureau made a statement on Thursday.
“A bulk carrier underway was attacked and boarded by six pirates from a small boat. Ten crew members were reported missing. The remaining crew onboard sailed the vessel to a safe port,
“The kidnapping happened around 32 nautical miles south of Brass last week in the volatile Niger Delta, a growing piracy hotspot in West Africa.”
The Sea Guardian Consultancy (SGC) puts the number of attacks in recent weeks at 15 with 56 mariners involved in the Niger Delta
“Excluding the latest casualties, have been kidnapped in the area this year. That number includes six crew members from a German-owned container ship who were abducted near the oil hub of Port Harcourt in October.”
Altogether more than 100 piracy incidents in international waters this year, including shootings, attempted kidnappings and hijackings of ships have been recorded by the IMB, a recent report describes the Gulf of Guinea as a “hot spot for attacks”, despite dropping numbers of kidnapping incidents in the rest of the world.