The crew of a Greek tanker are reported safe and well after the ship's owner lost contact with the vessel following a suspicious approach off West Africa.
The 16,700-dwt Errina (built 2019) left the Limboh terminal in Cameroon on 20 October.
Two days later the laden Panama-flagged handysize reported a suspicious approach and triggered its ship security alert system (SSAS).
The incident was reported as a possible kidnapping and hijack.
The position of the approach was given as 264 nautical miles (489 km) off Nigeria, but subsequent flag-state tracking has indicated the reported SSAS position could have been an error, security consultancy Ambrey said.
If a zero were to be removed from the beginning of the original SSAS latitude, the tanker would have been 128 nautical miles south of Lagos, in the Bight of Benin, which tallies with flag-state tracking.
"For approximately a day the owners were unable to contact the vessel," Ambrey said.
Two security escort vessels have since responded and moved alongside.
According to the vessel's master, all members of the crew are safe.
Warning given
Ambrey issued a warning three days earlier that a criminal syndicate was likely active in the Bight of Benin and south-west/south of Bayelsa state.
"The apparent failure of this incident has indicated the threat remains elevated," the company said.
Manager Smart Tankers of Piraeus has not responded to TradeWinds' request for comment.
Security consultancy Dryad Global said reporting indicated the vessel was boarded but all personnel had managed to retreat to the vessel's citadel and are safe and accounted for.
"All vessels are reminded that there remains a persistent and elevated risk within this area and are encouraged to maintain increased vigilance and employ enhanced mitigation at this time," the company added.
The vessel has an established trading pattern between Lome in Togo, Lagos in Nigeria and the wider Niger Delta region.
Details unclear
This is the 19th incident within the Nigerian exclusive economic zone, which, despite the wider uptick in overall incident reporting, represents a decline on incident volumes within this area, Dryad added.
The company said that while details remain unclear, the vessel recorded its departure from Limboh anchorage on 20 October, heading south-west.
Earlier this week, TradeWinds reported that pirate groups had boarded an LNG carrier and a tanker off West Africa.
One seafarer was reported kidnapped from Golar LNG Partners' 138,000-cbm Methane Princess (built 2003), which was attacked while at anchor off Malabo in Equatorial Guinea on 17 October.
A colleague was also seized, but jumped from a pirate boat and was rescued.
