Nigerian Pirates Kidnap 2 Crew

Nigerian pirates armed with machine guns fired at a Curacao-flagged vessel anchored at Port Harcourt before boarding the ship. The pirates robbed the crew before fleeing in a small speedboat with the ship’s captain and chief engineer.

Nigerian pirates rob cargo ship, kidnap 2 crew

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Armed pirates robbed a cargo ship at anchor in a Nigerian port and kidnapped at least two crew members in the latest of several attacks off Africa’s west coast, an international maritime watchdog said Wednesday.

The International Maritime Bureau echoed a warning this week by the United Nations that pirate attacks off West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea are becoming more rampant and violent.

In the latest attack Tuesday, eight Nigerian pirates armed with machine guns fired at a Curacao-flagged vessel anchored at Port Harcourt before boarding the ship, said Noel Choong, who heads the bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

The pirates robbed the crew before fleeing in a small speedboat with the ship’s captain and chief engineer, he said. One crew member was injured and another was reported missing, Choong said. He added that it was unclear whether the missing crew member also had been kidnapped.

The Dutch-owned vessel laden with refrigerated cargo has 14 crew members from Russia, Ukraine and the Philippines, he said. He did not ……[access full article]