Nigeria remains global hotspot for pirates, sea robbers – IMB report
With nothing less than 20 reported attacks on vessels, Nigeria remained a piracy hotspot for pirates and sea robbers within the first nine months of this year.
The International Maritime Bureau, IMB, in its latest piracy report released, Tuesday, stated that 16 of the 20 attacks occurred off the coast of Brass, Bonny and Bayelsa.
IMB said guns were used in 18 of the incidents and vessels were underway in 17 of the 20 reported attacks.
IMB further stated that 39 of the 49 crew members kidnapped globally occurred off Nigerian waters in seven separate incidents.
Other crew kidnappings in 2017 have been reported 60 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria.
According to Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB, “in general, all waters in and off Nigeria remain risky, despite intervention in some cases by the Nigerian Navy. We advise vessels to be vigilant. The number of attacks in the Gulf of Guinea could be even higher than our figures as many incidents continue to be unreported.”
According to IMB, a total of 121 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported globally in the first nine months of 2017.
In total, 92 vessels were boarded, 13 were fired upon, there were 11 attempted attacks and five vessels were hijacked in the first nine months of 2017.
The flagship global report notes that, while piracy rates were down compared to the same period in 2016, there is continuing concern over attacks in the Gulf of Guinea and in South East Asia.
The increase in attacks off the coast of Venezuela and other security incidents against vessels off Libya – including an attempted boarding in the last quarter – highlights the need for vigilance in other areas.
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