MT Duke (IMO: 9262259). Photo: MarineTraffic.com/Etienne Verberckmoes

Update: Twenty Indian nationals have actually been abducted from an oil vessel in West African waters, India’s international ministry has actually verified.

By Olivia Konotey-Ahulu, Prejula Prem and also Alex Longley (Bloomberg)–An oil vessel was struck on Sunday in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea and also a lot of its staff were abducted, the current in a string of events highlighting the safety dangers to delivery in the area.

The vessel– an oil items vessel called Duke, transporting gas oil– was struck and also boarded while cruising from Angola to Togo at 7 a.m. London time on Sunday, its proprietor,Union Maritime Ltd claimed in a declaration. One staff participant stayed on the ship, while the remainder were reported missing out on, the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy-reporting facility claimed in a different notification.

Acts of piracy on delivery in West Africa have actually been gradually enhancing in current weeks. Earlier this month 19 seafarers were abducted from a supertanker off the shore of Nigeria, and also 4 staff participants were drawn from a smaller sized Greek vessel anchored at a port in Togo in very early November.

About 82% of staff kidnappings internationally occur in the Gulf of Guinea, according to the IMB. The area stays a hotspot regardless of an around the world decrease in piracy in the very first 9 months of the year, compared to the exact same duration in 2018. Passing ships have actually been encouraged to remain at the very least 200 maritime miles from the Gulf’s shore and also ideally 250 maritime miles away, the Bureau claimed Monday.

Union Maritime claimed it is presently concentrated on the security of its staff and also really did not strategy to comment even more on the event for the time being. V.Ships, which handles the staff, claimed the vessel had 21 employees aboard, consisting of 20 from India that were abducted and also one Nigerian nationwide that was left on it.

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