Fifteen seafarers have been taken hostage by pirates from a Maltese-flagged products tanker Davide B offshore Nigeria.
According to reports the 19,800 dwt product tanker with a crew of 21 onboard was sailing from Latvia to Delta State was boarded by nine armed pirates some 220 nm south of Lagos, Nigeria on 11 March at 15-12 hrs UTC.
The vessel had crew of 21 comprising Ukrainian, Romanian and Philippine nationals, 15 of whom were taken hostage. The nationalities of those taken hostage is not known. The Davide B is managed De Poli Shipmanagement in the Netherlands
“The area where the incident occurred has seen an increased number of incidents between the end of Q4 2020 and beginning of Q1 2021. During the same time PAGs have shown an increased interest in targeting areas frequently used as linkup/break off points for security escorts sailing through the Nigerian EEZ or calling Nigerian ports,” Praesidium International said in an alert.