Pirates have attacked and boarded a Danish-owned ship in the Gulf of Guinea.
The 16 terrified sailors on board the Monjasa Reformer ship rushed to a safe room to escape the pirates, according to a spokesperson for the shipping company.
The Monjasa - a chemical and oil tanker - was carrying the Liberian flag at the time of the attack. It was operated by a Dubai-based firm called Montec Ship Management, which is owned by a Danish business.
The raiders boarded while the tanker was sitting idle around 140 nautical miles west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Montec reported the incident to the French and British navies - who are cooperating in the area to maintain safety in the Gulf of Guinea - which is known to be a hunting ground for pirates.
Somali pirates lose gunfight with armed guards on cargo ship in dramatic footage
Pirates photographed during a prevous raid near Ghana's harbour city of Tema (Dave Clark/AFP)Relevant maritime authorities in the gulf have been notified, a statement confirmed.
The 4,200 square-mile Gulf of Guinea - which stretches from Angola to Senegal - is known to be one of the world's most-dangerous shipping routes.
Thanks to collaborations between naval authorities rolled out in 2021, piracy cases have been on the decline, the UN Security Council states.
Last year, the widow of a man shot dead by Somali pirates said she was supporting the killer's bid for freedom.
Judith Tebbutt, 67, and husband David were abducted by Somali pirates from a luxury Kenyan resort in 2011.
The Danish-owned tanker was carrrying the Liberian flag at the time (Seaforces)David was killed and Judith held hostage for six months.
Kenyan Ali Kololo was the only person ever convicted in relation to the murder and kidnapping.
A Kenyan judge handed him a death sentence in 2013, later commuted to life imprisonment.
But now Judith has revealed she is supporting his imminent bid for freedom, saying he was made a “scapegoat” by Scotland Yard, who failed to find her true attackers.
A year earlier, a journalist also kidnapped by pirates relived the horrifying ordeal - and revealed his captors bizarrely wanted to stay in touch by email.
Pirates kidnap three sailors after hijacking chemical and oil tanker 6 days ago
Colin Freeman, 52, was taken for ransom for six terrifying weeks in 2008 while investigating Somalia’s piracy problem.
The pirates made international news when they took over Saudi Arabia’s ‘Sirius Star’ oil tanker.
Colin was sent out to investigate and while working in Bosaso, a city on Somalia’s northern coast, and ended up getting kidnapped by the people he paid to protect him as they were pirates pretending to be bodyguards, MyLondon reports.
Colin, a journalist with experience working in dangerous environments, said it was during the last day of his trip when bodyguards armed with Kalashnikovs ordered him and his colleague and photographer José Cendon out of the car.
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