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World's Most dangerous place for Seafarers



As Somalian Pirates horror diminishes due to continued efforts of world Navies, another area has emerged as a hub of piracy.
The International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center has once again identified Nigerian waters as being extremely dangerous.
Nigerian pirates have again come under global attention as they have been accused of  kidnapping 35 seafarers from cargo-laden vessels in the Gulf of Guinea so far this year.
The Gulf of Guinea has become an epicentre of piracy  after the pirate threat diminished off the coast of Somalia.
All 35 crew kidnappings reported this year occurred over six incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, highlighting higher risks in this area.
The true number of incidents in the Gulf of Guinea is believed to be "significantly higher" than reported to the IMB PRC, according to the report.

In the latest incident a tanker with 17 Georgian sailors on-board has been missing for a week off the coast of Gabon in the Gulf of Guinea, a notorious area for sea piracy, officials said.

The ship “disappeared” from tracking screens on August 14, and the potential search area was between the Gabonese coast and the Sao Tome and Principe archipelago, a regional military source said Tuesday.
Quarterly report from the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) shows all 2018 crew kidnappings have so far occurred in the Gulf of Guinea in six separate incidents.

  • There were no reported incidents recorded off the coast of Somalia in the second quarter of 2018

  • The number of incidents in the Philippines dropped from 13 by the second quarter of 2017 to three in the same time period this year.

Worldwide in the first three months of 2018, 100 crew were taken hostage and 14 kidnapped from their vessels. A total of 39 vessels were boarded, 11 fired upon and four vessels hijacked.

“The hijacking of product tankers from anchorages in the Gulf of Guinea is a cause of concern.  In these cases, the intent of the perpetrators is to steal the oil cargo and kidnap crew. The prompt detection and response to any unauthorised movements of an anchored vessel could help in the effective response to such attacks,” commented an IMB spokesperson.