Pirates Fire Upon LPG Tanker off Congo

October 31, 2018

A group of armed pirates attacked an LPG tanker carrying out bunkering operations on October 29, around 101 nautical miles West of Pointe Noire, the Republic of the Congo.

Illustration. Image Courtesy: Pixabay under CC0 Creative Commons license

IMB Piracy Reporting Centre said that pirates in a speed boat chased and fired upon the LPG tanker causing the ship to trigger emergency bunker stop procedure and cast off.

The master employed evasive manoeuvres and increased speed, managing to escape the pirates.

All crew members are reported to be safe.

The attack is being reported two days after 11 crew members of MV Pomerenia Sky, a containership operated by Germany’s Peter Dohle Schiffahrts, were kidnapped off Nigeria.

Midocean (IOM) Ltd informed that nine crew members remained on board the containership and were unharmed, according to Reuters. The company added that the vessel proceeded to safe waters.

A total of 156 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported to the ICC International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) in the first nine months of 2018 compared to 121 for the same period in 2017.

The Gulf of Guinea accounts for 57 of the 156 reported incidents, with the majority of these incidents, 41, reported in and around Nigeria.

World Maritime News Staff