Reports state that the Marshall Islands-flagged MV Althea, a crude tanker, was attacked by 10 armed men in the Gulf of Guinea, around 35nm off the Nigerian coast, in position 03:55N-007:49E.
The attack has been confirmed by the Greek Merchant Ministry who have reported that the ship’s Ukrainian Master and Greek First Engineer have been kidnapped. The crew (18 in total) are all Ukrainian except for the First Engineer. The pirates stole personal items but the crew were unharmed and the cargo left untouched.
In recent months, crew kidnappings have become increasingly more commonplace off West Africa.
