Armed guards on a Laskaridis Shipping reefer have fought off a violent pirate attack off Nigeria.
The 463,652-cbf Cool Girl (built 1999) was fired on by gunmen in two skiffs on Wednesday, 45 nautical miles (83 km) from the Agbami FPSO and 95 nautical miles off Bayelsa state.
Security consultancy Ambrey said the Panama-flagged vessel was approached while underway.
Armed guards were said to have "responded" and the skiffs left.
Ambrey tracked the vessel as it subsequently increased speed to 18.3 knots.
Prior to the incident, the reefer had been underway at 12.4 knots from Lagos, Nigeria, with an estimated 4.4m freeboard.
Guards returned fire
The reported AIS destination was Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Laskaridis told TradeWinds: "It is true that there was an attempt but because of ship’s speed and guards on board who shot back at the pirates...did not allow them to come close to our ship. Everybody on board safe."
Dryad Global said the latest incident continued the increasing trend of raids in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea in the latter part of 2020.
The company rates the risk as critical. Attacks are highly likely to be carried out daily.
A total of 118 seafarers have been kidnapped in 24 incidents in the region this year.
