Pirates attack and board Danish ship in Gulf of Guinea as all communications lost

A Danish-owned ship has been stormed by pirates, with all communications lost as the attack plays out more than 150 miles off Africa’s west coast.

All 16 crew members have sought refuge in a safe room onboard the oil and chemicals tanker, shipping firm Monjasa said on Tuesday.

The 135-metre long Monjasa Reformer had been sitting idle on Saturday in the Gulf of Guinea – roughly 160 miles west of the Republic of Congo’s Port Pointe-Noire – when it was attacked and boarded by the pirates, the company said.

The ship’s operator, a Dubai-based firm called Montec Ship Management, has reported the attack to a maritime cooperation centre run by the British and French navies, which seeks to maintain safety in the Gulf of Guinea.

With communications having been lost since the attack on Saturday night, Monjasa said it was working with local authorities “to establish communication to understand the situation on board and provide all the support needed by the crew to overcome these dreadful events”.

“Monjasa will keep working closely with Montec Ship Management and the authorities during this difficult situation and in the aftermath. All our thoughts are with the crew and relatives in these hours,” the company said in a statement.

The Gulf of Guinea has become a global piracy hotspot in recent years although cases have fallen there since 2021 as national authorities stepped up security efforts aided by foreign naval ships, according to the UN Security Council.

Denmark, which has big commercial shipping interests, deployed a frigate to the gulf in 2021 to protect shipping, but the frigate was pulled back last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Monjasa Reformer was built 20 years ago and had been travelling under the Liberian flag, having set off from Douala in Cameroon 11 days before it was attacked, according to the MarineTraffic tracking website.

Given that piracy “is a known risk factor” in west Africa, Monjasa said it has implemented an anti-piracy policy “which includes an extensive description of how the crew and the officers should act in case of piracy attacks”.

The vessel was carrying marine gas oil, very low sulphur fuel oil and high sulphur fuel oil products at the time of the attack, the company said, adding that there are no reports of damage to the ship or cargo.

In a warning issued by the British and French naval cooperation centre, it said that the tanker had reportedly been boarded by five armed individuals, and asked that shipmasters in the vicinity report any sightings of the vessel or any suspicious activity.

Additional reporting by Reuters