6 crew of African tanker freed after being held hostage by pirates, 10 hostages remain

Six crew members of a Liberian-flagged tanker held hostage for more than a month by West African pirates have been freed, the Danish shipping company that owns the vessel said on Monday.

On March 25, the pirates embarked on the Monjasa Reformer southwest of Port Pointe-Noire, Congo. The vessel was found abandoned five days later by a French navy patrol off the small island nation of Sao Tome and Principe north of where the attack took place.

The pirates left 10 of the 16 crew aboard, kidnapping the remaining six and driving them ashore in Nigeria.

PIRATES ATTACK SHIP AND HOLD CREW HOSTAGE OFF WEST AFRICA

In a statement, Monjasa company spokesman Thorstein Andreasen said the ordeal of the six crew members ended on Monday and they had “now been recovered safely from an undisclosed location in Nigeria”.

All “are in relatively good health given the difficult circumstances they have found themselves in over the past five weeks,” Andreasen said in the statement. She added that they had received medical checkups and were being deported back to their home countries to be reunited with their families.

Port to Nigeria

Shipping operations are seen on a dock at Port Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo, December 16, 2019. Six of the 16 hostages who were crew members of a Liberian-flagged tanker were freed by pirates in West Africa . The pirates boarded the tanker at Port Point-Noire. (SAMIR TOUNSI/AFP via Getty Images)

The Gulf of Guinea is one of the most dangerous places in the world for attacks on ships. This hijacking occurred further south, in an area not typically attacked by pirates.

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Anders Ostergaard, managing director of Monjasa, which is based in Fredericia, western Denmark, thanked those who helped “resolve this terrible situation”.

After the pirates boarded the tanker, the crew sought refuge in a citadel – a secure area on the vessel – in line with emergency anti-piracy protocol on board. However, the pirates somehow managed to take some of them hostage.

The nationalities of the crew members were not announced, nor were details given on where and how they were detained.

No damage to the ship or its cargo was reported. No further details were provided.

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The Danish shipper said the episode “clearly demonstrates the need for joint international political action to address these problems once and for all” and “calls for safe passage routes and safe zones under an international coalition”.

The Monjasa Reformer is used in West Africa as part of Monjasa’s global marine fuel operations. It was carrying marine diesel, ultra-low sulfur fuel oil and high sulfur products, the shipper said.

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