Tanker Hijacked off Ivory Coast

A group of twelve armed pirates boarded a drifting product tanker around 45 nautical miles southeast of Abidjan Port, Ivory Coast on August 27,  piracy watchdog ICC Commercial Crime Services (CCS) reports.

According to the report, the pirates took hostage of all crew members, stole cash that was onboard the ship, including that of the crew and their personal belongings.

There were no injuries reported. The crew was reported safe and the ship undamaged. 

“Before leaving the vessel, the pirates destroyed the vessels navigation equipment and stolen ships properties,” the report read.

The attack was followed by a similar hijacking on the day after when an armed pirate gang hijacked a Thai tanker off Malaysia’s east coast and siphoned its cargo of oil.

The tanker was heading from Singapore to Bangkok with 1,2096 tons of lube oil onboard when the incident occurred, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre.

The pirates also robbed the crew’s personal belongings and damaged the navigational and communications equipment before leaving the vessel, which seems to have become a common tactics used among the pirates.