It has been confirmed that the six seafarers kidnapped off the Danish tanker Monjasa Reformer, were rescued in Nigeria.
The 2003-built Liberian-flagged vessel, with a capacity of 13 700 tonnes and managed by Montec Ship Management, was hijacked on 25 March.
The ship was accommodating 16 seafarers, approximately 260km from Port Ponte-Noire in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Thereafter, the ship went missing for several days before it was found near Sao Tome and Principe by the French navy on 30 March, with six crew members missing.
"All recovered crew members are in relatively good health given the difficult circumstances they have been under in the last more than five weeks.
“They have all been receiving medical checks and are now being repatriated to their home countries to reunite with their families," said Monjasa's CEO, Anders Østergaard.
The waters west of North and Central African countries have recently proven to be hotspots for piracy, with multiple attacks being reported.
This attack was followed by the boarding of a Singapore-flagged bunker, the Success 9, off the Ivorian coast on 10 April, and the seizing of an Eagle Bulk-owned supramax, Grebe Bulker, at the Ownedo anchorage in Gabon on 2 May.
"The attack on the Danish-owned ship is, unfortunately, just one among several attacks on commercial ships that we have witnessed in the Gulf of Guinea over the past few months.
“It clearly shows that the problems with piracy off the coast of West Africa are far from solved," said the director general and CEO of Danish Shipping, Ann Steffensen.
"The countries that are present with naval vessels in the Gulf of Guinea should coordinate their presence to a greater extent so that we can best secure the vast area for our seafarers.”
