EMEA News
Pirates Steal Gas Oil in Gulf of Guinea
Pirates boarded a Liberian-flagged tanker off Africa's west coast and transferred the gas oil it was carrying to their bunker barge before abandoning the ship, Agence France-Presse reports.
The 12 pirates held guns on the ship's 14-member crew off Togo's capital of Lome, according to Noel Choong, head of the International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre.
The crew members sustained only "light injuries," Choong said.
He said there have been 43 pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea this year, and the incidents have been on the rise recently, with pirates usually targeting fuel cargo that can be sold on the black market.
Last month, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency prevented six pirates from siphoning off and selling bunker fuel from a hijacked vessel off Malaysia.
