Vessel boarded reported off the Ivory Coast

On April 10, a maritime incident occurred 300 nautical miles off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire. A Singapore-registered tanker was boarded. The attack was reported by the Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade-Gulf of Guinea, a joint French and British maritime surveillance effort.

The tanker is owned by the Hai Soon Group, a company registered in Singapore. 20 crew members were on board.

The Singapore maritime and port authorities said the attackers have not yet been identified, but an act of maritime piracy is suspected.

Fuel theft is believed to be the motivation for this and other attacks in the region. In each case, the pirates stole oil and damaged the ship’s equipment before leaving.

According to the EOS Risk Group, the risk of boarding is still significant in the region. Due to the location of the attack, it is likely that a mother ship was used to launch it. It is therefore possible that the mothership is still present in the region.

“It seems that serious attacks are increasing in the Gulf of Guinea. We hope that more international warships equipped with helicopters will be able to patrol the area,” Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center told AFP on Wednesday.

The vessel is still missing. Her AIS were shut down.