IMO calls for action against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has called for urgent action to deter and resolve attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea, following several piracy incidents including an attack on a container ship in January, which resulted in a fatality and the kidnapping of 15 seafarers.

On January 23, the container ship Mozart suffered the above attack while on February 7, the oil/chemical tanker M/V SEA PHANTOM was boarded by suspected pirates on the seas off Sao Tome and Principe.

In the latter case, a helicopter from Equatorial Guinea arrived on the scene causing at least eight people who had boarded the vessel to flee the ship, fortunately leaving the crew to be found uninjured in the tanker’s intact citadel.