The Boskalis semi-submersible hefty lift vessel Blue Marlin was rummaged by pirates offshore West Africa on Sunday, triggering damages that has actually left the ship unusable.

All 20 team participants are reported secure and also healthy.

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. validated Tuesday that the vessel was “hijacked” about 80 maritime miles off the coastline of Equatorial Guinea.

The vessel had simply unloaded freight in Equatorial Guinea waters and also left for Malta when the event happened Sunday mid-day.

According to Boskalis, the Blue Marlin was boarded from a zodiac by numerous armed pirates. The business validates that all 20 team participants effectively secured themselves inside the ship’s castle where they had the ability to call regional authorities from Equatorial Guinea and also the NATO objective MDAT-GoG (Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade– Gulf of Guinea).

Two helicopters were right away set in motion from Equatorial Guinea, in addition to an Equatorial Guinea marine vessel and also a vessel from the Spanish navy, component of the MDAT-GoG objective.

The Blue Marlin was boarded by the Equatorial Guinea and also Spain navies in the beginning light Monday early morning. At that time, no pirates continued to be aboard the vessel and also the team was devoid of the castle.

Boskalis stated the pirates terminated their tools numerous times while onboard, causing considerable product damages to the bridge that has actually left the ship“unsailable” Boskalis has actually currently set in motion a oceangoing yank to take the Blue Marlin to a secure place.

The Equatorial Guinea navy has actually left 5 armed guards aboard to safeguard the Blue Marlin.

“I want to express my compliments to our crew for their extremely professional and adequate actions in this life threatening situation,” stated Peter Berdowski, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ofBoskalis “I am extremely grateful and in particular thankful to the navy of Equatorial Guinea for their quick and decisive response, as well as to the Spanish navy for their assistance via MDAT-GoG. Because of their actions, this hijacking could be ended quickly and our colleagues were brought into safety.”