According to Singaporean authorities, “unidentified persons” boarded a Singaporean oil tanker around 300 nautical miles (555 km) off the coast of Ivory Coast in the Gulf of Guinea on Monday.
According to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the tanker Success 9 had a multi-national crew of 20, including one Singaporean (MPA).
The MPA said that it was collaborating with the ship’s owner, the Monrovia Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, and the Information Fusion Centre of the Changi Command and Control Centre.
The nationalities of the other crew members, among other details, were not revealed.
A rescue effort was undertaken, according to an Ivorian security officer, but the patrol boat never discovered the tanker because its signal had been destroyed.
“We presume it’s an act of piracy since the modus operandi is the same,” one anonymous source said
We’ve turned to Spain and Europe for outside help, the individual added.
According to the United Nations Security Council, the number of pirate events in the Gulf of Guinea has declined since 2021, as national authorities have boosted security operations with the assistance of international naval troops.
Last month, pirates off the coast of the Republic of the Congo kidnapped and then abandoned a Danish-owned ship.
