Pirates Kidnap 10 Seafarers on Nigerian waters

Abiola Seun 

Ten seafarers have been kidnapped by dare-devil pirates who boarded a product tanker; MT Vemahope.

The product tanker was reportedly attacked by pirates at around 1930 UTC on Apr 30 in Gulf of Guinea, some 175 nautical miles of Lagos.

The ship was under way, en route from Lome Togo to Cameroon.

According to Dryad Global, the pirates managed to board the tanker and kidnapped 10 crew.

The AIS on the tanker was operational at the time of the attack while the tanker went adrift after attack, in northern direction.

As of 0300 UTC May 1, she seemed to be still adrift, with Nigeria-flagged fast support offshore boat SVS AVERY approaching.

The details of the vessel as given are; Product tanker VEMAHOPE, IMO 9477751, dwt 6152, built 1009, flag Panama, manager QUEENSWAY NAVIGATION CO LTD (EQUASIS).

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