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Pirates off the coastline of Nigeria went after and also contended a containership underway on Tuesday in the very first reported piracy case in the Gulf of Guinea area up until now this year.

The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre reports that around 0935 regional time on January 21 a rate watercraft with about 15 armed individuals aboard went after and also bombarded the ship as it was about 19 maritime miles SW of Bayelsa in the Niger Delta area of southerly Nigeria.

The ship’s alarm system was elevated and also all non-essential staff nestled in the ship’s safeguarded castle. The vessel boosted rate and also an armed marine guard onboard the containership returned fire, leading to the skiff deserting the assault and also relocating away, the IMB record claimed.

The unknown vessel and also staff are reported secure.

The case is the initially reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre up until now this year in the area.

The assault follows the IMB reported an unmatched increase in the variety of staff kidnappings in 2019 in the Gulf of Guinea area, with the variety of abducted boosting greater than half year-over-year to 121 reported kidnappings. The number stands for 90 percent of staff kidnappings globabally in 2019. The area likewise represented 64 complete cases, consisting of all 4 vessel hijackings that took place in 2019, along with 10 out of 11 vessels that reported coming under attack.