GoG: Pirates kidnap 5 seafarers in Niger Delta

Five crew members have been kidnapped by pirates from a Ghana-flagged vessel in another incident in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region.

Maritime security intelligence company, Dryad Global, said the 1,700-dwt cargo vessel, identified as AM Delta, was boarded some 44 nautical miles south of Brass, Nigeria, on Monday November 16.

The ill-fated ship is operated by Ghana-based Adom Mbroso Water Transport, according to data provided by VesselsValue.

Reports indicate that AM Delta was boarded by about seven pirates who took five seafarers hostage. The kidnapped crew members are believed to be Ghanaian nationals.

Further reports indicate that the perpetrators have damaged the onboard communications and navigation equipment. According to Dryad the vessel was left drifting with two crew onboard.

It would be noted that this is the ninth incident in the Gulf of Guinea within November alone. Several days ago, pirates in the Gulf of Guinea attacked Chinese-owned heavy lift vessel, kidnapping fourteen crew members.

This latest occurrence takes the total volume of kidnapped personnel from vessels within the Gulf of Guinea to 115 across 22 incidents within 2020.

Dryad report that “This incident happened closer to shore than the majority of incidence in 2020 which have thus far reflected the developed trend of incidents at the 80+nm range. It is within a high traffic area that saw a large cluster of incidents in both 2018 and 2019.

“Following a spate of unsuccessful attacks on vessels previously it is highly likely that the perpetrators sought to return to areas of known traffic density and opportunistic targets.”

“The boarding by armed perpetrators reinforces the critical risk rating in the Gulf of Guinea HRA after 7 incidents of unsuccessful approaches and attacks in the past week including two successful kidnappings in the last 4 days.”