Свиток: "Pirated ship pinpointed off Nigeria" развернуть A GREEK-operated product tanker hijacked off Togo was reportedly tracked down today off Nigeria, still under pirate control.
The pirates intend “steal the cargo" from the 74,995dwt tanker Energy Centurion, operator Golden Energy Management said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The company added that the seafarers held hostage are believed to be unharmed and that it is in touch with a French naval ship near the tanker’s position.
The seizure early yesterday underscored the growing risks to ships in the Gulf of Guinea, where piracy is rising but still not as common as off the coast of Somalia.
Oleg Kravchenko, director-general of the Novorossiysk recruitment company Alpha Marine Crew Services, told the Russian news agency Prime that the company was involved in hiring 23 Russian crew members and that the other hostage aboard is the ship's Greek captain.
Colonel Inoussa Djibril, spokesman for the Togolese army chief of staff, confirmed to Reuters that Energy Centurion had been detected this morning in Nigerian waters with pirates aboard.
The ship had been anchored in the gulf when attacked, about 17nm off Lome, Togo's capital. The crew sent an alert that brought a Togolese vessel to assist.
However, the pirates took control of the bridge and escaped with the captive seafarers amid gunfire, according to Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau anti-piracy organisation.
The recent hijacking of tankers is probably the work of a single, sophisticated criminal gang with knowledge of the oil industry and tankers, analysts told the Associated Press, which said the pirates might have gained experience in Nigeria's southern Niger delta, |