An LPG Carrier has narrowly avoided being hijacked by pirates off the West Coast of Africa, TradeWinds has learnt.
The incident took place on Monday in position 04° 46.7'S, 010° 08.3'E, around 101 nautical miles (nm) west of Pointe Noire, in the Republic of Congo.
“Pirates in a speed boat chased and fired upon an LPG tanker carrying out bunkering operations,” said the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre
The ship carried out an emergency bunker stop and cast off after which it increased speed increased and took evasive manoeuvres.
On Tuesday it was reported that an unnamed merchant ship had been hijacked off the Republic of Congo.
Piracy reporting body Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade – Gulf of Guinea (MDAT-GoG) said two vessels were raided on Monday afternoon, 102 nautical miles off Pointe Noire. One was later reported as safe, but one was taken.
MDAT-GoG told TradeWinds that investigations were ongoing and no further information was currently available.
Last week three intruders were spotted onboard an unnamed oil tanker while it was anchored in Congo's Pointe-Noire Anchorage
A crew member making routine rounds raised the alarm and the rest of the crew were mustered. The intruders, who were said to have been armed, fled.
"This was the second report of armed intruders boarding a vessel in the Pointe-Noire anchorage in less than a month," according to UK-based security consultancy Gray Page
In late September two suspected robbers, reportedly armed with knives, were seen on the deck of a merchant vessel around midnight.
Gray Page say reports of intruders boarding vessels in the Pointe-Noire anchorage had been falling away, with the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre recorded six incidents in 2016 and only one in 2017.
"Although intruders have been armed they have seldom confronted crew members and have generally fled once an alarm has been raised," it said.
"Ships in the Pointe-Noire Anchorage should be vigilant about maintaining watches especially during the hours of darkness."
