CMA CGM Turquoise Attacked, Two Crew Kidnapped

A containership chartered by the French shipping major CMA CGM has been attacked by pirates off Nigeria, who are reported to have kidnapped two crew members.

The ship has been identified as CMA CGM Turquoise by Maritime Trade Information Sharing Centre for the Gulf of Guinea ( MTISC-GOG).

The CMA CGM Turquoise is owned by Kassiakos Navigation Ltd and managed by Dioryx Maritime Corporation.

UK based security company Clearwater confirmed to World Maritime News the identity of the ship and the information on the kidnapping. As informed, the crew members are thought to be an electrician and the 2nd officer.

“The MTISC-GOG has received a report indicating that at about 2156 UTC on April 11th a vessel was attacked while en-route from Lagos to Douala in approximate position; 04 07.33’N 005 24.12’E,” the report said.

Once the pirates were on board, the ship’s security alert system was activated and all but two crew members on board went to Citadel. The two crew outside of the Citadel are suspected to have been kidnapped, the report further adds.

Following our initial report, World Maritime News has also received a confirmation on the attack from the ship’s manager, saying that the company managed to reestablish communication with the master on April 12th.

“The crew members were counted and all of them were found to be absolutely safe except for the 2nd officer and the electrician who were reported as missing. At this stage their whereabouts is not known and everything is being done, in conjunction with the appropriate authorities, the relative foreign ministries, and specialist advisers, to ascertain where they are. Up until now, there has been nothing to indicate that either of the men has been injured and we have every reason to believe that they are both alive,” a statement from Dioryx reads.

According to the ship’s latest AIS data, the 2009-built Liberia-flagged boxship is underway using engine in the Gulf of Guinea.

Investigations and searching of the vessel is being conducted by Nigerian Navy as of Tuesday, with other navy assets searching the area for the pirates and kidnapped crew.

This is the second incident that occurred on the same day in the region. Namely, a group of eight pirates attacked the Malta-flagged tanker MT Puli and kidnapped the vessel’s six crew members some 118 nautical miles off Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

The ship was en route from Douala port to Nigerian Abidjan port, when it was hijacked.

The pirates stole cash, ship’s properties, crew personal belongings and escaped with the kidnapped crew.

World Maritime News Staff