There has been another kidnapping this morning with the boarding of a general cargo vessel and the kidnapping of five crew members in the Gulf of Guinea Region.
According to Dryad Global, the Ghanaian flagged general cargo vessel AM DELTA (IMO9015929) has been boarded 44nm South Brass / 35nm ENE Agbami Terminal, resulting in the kidnapping of five crew members.
The vessel is understood to have been boarded by six or seven pirates. The kidnapped crew are all believed to be Ghanaian nationals. Further reporting indicates that the perpetrators have damaged the onboard communications and navigation equipment. The vessel is believed to be drifting with two crew onboard.
This is the 9th incident within November alone. This latest incident takes the total volume of kidnapped personnel from vessels within the Gulf of Guinea to 115 across 22 incidents within 2020.
This incident occurred closer to shore than the majority of incidents in 2020 which have thus far reflected the developed trend of incidents at the 80+nm range. It is within a high traffic area that saw a large cluster of incidents in both 2018 and 2019. Following a spate of unsuccessful attacks on vessels previously it is highly likely that the perpetrators sought to return to areas of known traffic density and opportunistic targets. (Source: Dryad Global)
