Pirates have abducted 19 crew members from a Navios Maritime Acquisition VLCC 185 km off Nigeria.
In an alert marked with a "high" source confidence level, security consultancy Dryad Global said 18 Indians and a Turk were kidnapped from the 297,000-dwt Nave Constellation (built 2010) 48 km off the Egina terminal, south of Bonny Island, on 3 December.
"Indications are that seven crew are still onboard the tanker," it added.
Shipmanager Anglo-Eastern has confirmed the incident to TradeWinds. It marks a major escalation of the reach and threat of armed groups operating off Nigeria.
Raided late at night
In a statement issued later on Wednesday, Navios and Anglo-Eastern said the vessel was the subject of a pirate attack 143 km off Bonny.
The Hong Kong-flagged tanker had left Bonny Offshore Terminal fully laden when it was boarded by armed men late in the night of 3 December.
"The criminal gang departed the vessel taking 19 of those onboard with them as hostages; 18 Indian nationals and one Turkish national," the companies said.
"Seven seafarers remained onboard and were instructed to take the tanker to a safe position to await the arrival of a security vessel and other support craft. There was no pollution or damage to the vessel."
The prime concern is now the safety and early return of the 19 crew.
All the appropriate authorities, including the flag state, have been alerted, the companies said, adding that action was being taken to secure the crew's well-being and early release.
"Families of those taken by the pirates are being kept fully informed of the developing situation," they added.
Dryad said: "Vessels conducting operations at the Egina, Usan and Serpentina terminals are assessed to be operating at heightened risk in the medium to longer term."
The last AIS update shows the Nave Constellation off Bonny Island on 21 November.
Nigerian EEZ flareup
Dryad Global said this was the sixth maritime security incident and the fourth kidnapping to occur within 56 km of the south-eastern boundary of the Nigerian EEZ within 2019.
"This is further confirmation of a developing trend of incidents that are assessed to be perpetuated by a well-resourced pirate action group (PAG), most likely operating from one or more mothership vessels," it added.
"It is assessed that this PAG is aware of the limitations of security presence beyond the Nigerian EEZ and is seeking to exploit traffic conducting operations at or in support of oil infrastructure located along the north eastern fringes of the Nigerian EEZ and within the 60 nautical mile channel between the Nigerian EEZ and Bioko Island."
In November, armed assailants abducted four crew members from a tanker in a piracy incident off Togo.
The attack occurred in the early morning of 4 November onboard the 94,100-dwt Elka Aristotle (built 2003), Greek coastguards said.
Four members of the vessel’s crew of 24 onboard were kidnapped: two Filipinos, one Greek and one Georgian. The coastguards did not clarify their rank or provide further details on the incident.
Before that, pirates abducted nine crew from a JJ Ugland bulker off Benin, a country neighbouring Togo.
The Norwegian shipowner said the 58,105-dwt Bonita (built 2010) was boarded off the port of Cotonou.
