Pirates off the coast of Nigeria attacked a French ship, which supplies vessels to the offshore oil industry. Six Russians and an Estonian were taken hostage on Monday, while nine crewmembers were left on board, according to the company.
Pirates off the coast of Nigeria attacked a French ship, which supplies vessels to the offshore oil industry. Six Russians and an Estonian were taken hostage on Monday, while nine crewmembers were left on board, according to the company.
The ship – Bourbon Liberty 249 – finally docked in the port of Onne, in the Niger Delta area.
Pirate attacks are on the rise in the Gulf of Guinea, which is second only to the waters around Somalia for piracy.
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Usually boats are attacked in order to steal their cargo, after which the crew is normally freed, although kidnapping is also a major criminal enterprise in the waters around the delta, the heart of the energy industry.
Pirates freed a Greek-operated gasoline tanker earlier this month that they had hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea near Ivory Coast. Fuel ships are a favorite target.
Many of the criminal gangs in pirate networks are offshoots from militant groups that used to operate in the delta before they agreed an amnesty in 2009.
In August pirates attacked a Greek-operated oil tanker with a crew of about 20 off the coast of Togo. They released the ship a few days later after stealing 3,000 tonnes of fuel.
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