Pirates boarded the MV Bonita at the Cotonou port in Benin and kidnapped nine crewmembers, according to shipping company J.J. Ugland, reports EuroNews.
What happened?
Nine crewmembers on a Norwegian ship have been kidnapped after pirates boarded the vessel off the coast of Benin, its owners said.
The ship, MV Bonita, was carrying gypsum, a fertiliser mineral, and was at anchor on Saturday when the incident happened.
Situation being handled
It later docked at Benin’s port city of Cotonou, according to a statement from JJ Ugland, the Norwegian company that owns the vessel.
The statement said: “The Ugland Emergency Response Team are handling this situation as per contingency plans, and they are in contact with relevant authorities.”
The nationalities of the kidnapped crewmembers have not been released for safety reasons, but the company said their families had been contacted and “will be kept informed.”
It is also not clear how many crewmembers avoided being kidnapped.
High risk area
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), the Gulf of Guinea remained a “high risk area for piracy and armed robbery” in 2018, despite a decline in a worldwide number of incidents.
This region, it added, makes up 86% of hostage taking of crewmembers and 82% of crew kidnappings.
“Although incidents are down, the Gulf of Guinea continues to be a concern for piracy and armed robbery-related activities with kidnappings of crew members increasing in both scale and frequency,” IMB director Pottengal Mukundan said in a statement last month.
He added: “It is important that shipmasters and owners continue to report all actual, attempted, and suspected incidents to ensure that an accurate picture of these attacks emerge and action is taken against these criminals before the incidents further escalate.”
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Source: Euro News
