West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea has been topping the charts for quite some time now when it comes to piracy and kidnapping. Last week, however, the problem accelerated: A total of four cases were recorded in a single week, spanning from November 26 to December 2.
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In one incident on November 26, the general cargo ship Milan was attacked and boarded by pirates, who went on to kidnap 10 crew members. In a separate incident three days later, the Greek tanker Agisilaos was attacked and boarded by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea south of Lome, Togo, while she was en route from Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo, to Lome. Four crew members - including Filipino, Romanian and Russian nationals - were kidnapped, and the pirates escaped the scene.
The list doesn’t stop there. Armed pirates stormed the cargo vessel Tango Rey in Conakry Anchorage, Guinea. Six armed pirates boarded the ship and looted the superstructure and the living quarters of the crew.