In what could have been a beginning of a new season of piracy off African waters, heavily armed pirates stormed an oil tanker off Nigeria and kidnapped five Indian crew members for ransom, reports reaching here have said.Confirming the report to Sagar Sandesh in an e-mailed statement, Medallion Marine, operators of tanker SP Brussels, said that on Dec. 17, the vessel was boarded by heavily armed pirates approximately 40 miles off the Niger delta.
The pirates ransacked the vessel for personal belongings and took five (Indian) crew members with them while leaving the vessel, the operator said.
The operator said that they have been working in close coordination with the authorities, and everything possible is being done to ensure the safe return of those crew members taken from the vessel.
Meanwhile, one of the abducted crew was identified as Mr. Thomson Britto, a native of Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. He was the second officer of vessel SP Brussels.
Fr. Churchill, General Secretary of the South Asian Fishermen Fraternity, in his letter to Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan and Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi requested immediate steps to rescue the Indian seafarers from the clutches of the Nigerian pirates.According to information available, the oil tanker is having the flag MARSHALL IS (MH) with crew strength of 17. On Dec. 12, the vessel was sailing from Abidjan, Lagos. While the vessel was in the South of Atlantic Ocean on Dec. 16 the Nigerian pirates had abducted these crew members for ransom.
So far there is no information about the seafarers or their whereabouts.
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