Pirates seize 19 crew members from tanker south of Nigeria

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According to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Center, at 1810 UTC yesterday, armed pirates attacked and boarded an oil tanker underway, around 76 nm south of Bonny, Nigeria. Nineteen crew were identified as missing. The vessel owners notified the Nigerian Navy and MRCC for assistance and the remaining crew sailed a tanker to a safe area.

Maritime security specialist Dryad Global says that reporting indicates that the vessel involved is Navios Tankers Management’s Nave Constellation.

Dryad says the pirates are believed to have left the vessel taking with them 19 crew members (18 Indians and one Turkish), leaving seven crew memberse still on board the tanker.

“This incident is the sixth maritime security incident and the fourth kidnapping incident to occur within 30 nm of the South Eastern boundary of the Nigerian EEZ within 2019,” says Dryad. “This is further confirmation of a developing trend of incidents that are assessed to be perpetuated by a well resourced pirate action group, most likely operating from one or more mother-ship vessels.”

Read the rest of the Dryad analysis of the incident HERE