Last year's late spike in piracy off the coast of West Africa has continued into 2019.
In the first 10 weeks of the new year, at least 25 seafarers have been kidnapped while traversing the Gulf of Guinea and a Nigerian Navy guard killed in an attack, according to UK security consultancy Gray Page citing data from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
The kidnappings occurred in five attacks. There have been a total of 13 in those 10 weeks.
Attacks in the Gulf of Guinea pushed piracy to a three-year high in 2018, with a total of 201 incidents reported to the IMB worldwide.
Of those 201 incidents, 41 were kidnappings that happened in Gulf of Guinea in the last three months of 2018.
The body of water was also the site of the six ship hijackings reported to the IMB last year.
Despite the high numbers, the agency has cautioned that the true number could be even higher — officials estimate piracy in the region could be underreported by as much as 40%.
Gray Page cites three incidents in specific: Eight crew members kidnapped off Chinese fishing boats, six seafarers off a boxship and the five from an unnamed offshore support vessel in which the navy guard was killed after exchanging fire with machine gun-armed pirates on speedboats.
The firm said pirates are typically armed, target a wide array of ships and primarily attack at night. Attacks have ranged anywhere from 30 nautical miles to 180 nautical miles offshore. As many as 16 pirates are involved in attacks and typically approach on speedboats or skiffs, firing on their targets before boarding.
