Hijacked tanker released, cargo stolen

JANUARY 27, 2014 — Athens headquartered Dynacom Tankers Management has regained communications with the 74,999 dwt, Liberian flagged M/T Kerala and reports that the ship was, as had been feared, hijacked at Angola, Luanda Anchorage. Though all crew members are alive and accounted for, one is wounded and, says Dynacom, “all have clearly been affected by their ordeal. A large amount of cargo has been stolen.”

“We lost contact with the vessel on January 18, 2014,” says Dynacom. “We instigated our emergency response procedures and engaged professionals experienced in dealing with these type of incidents to assist us.

“It quickly became apparent that we were dealing with a piracy incident and that the vessel had been hijacked. In accordance with good practice, we did not provide detailed press releases whilst the situation was unfolding, but worked alongside the relevant authorities to try to resolve the incident.

“We would like to thank the European, North American and other international intelligence agencies who worked with us during this incident, as well as the regional and international navies who dispatched assets to monitor the pirates and provided support and assistance to us.

“Representatives of international law enforcement and intelligence agencies that are experienced in dealing with piracy incidents will be attending on board to gather intelligence and forensic evidence from the vessel and crew in order to try to bring to justice those that perpetrated this crime on our vessel and our people.”