Turkish crew taken hostage, Ghana Navy saves Pirates attack vessel
20th July 2019
Ten Turkish onboard a Turkish flagged vessel, MV PAKSOY-1 enroute to Côte d’Ivoire, after discharging cargo, fertiliser, in Douala, Cameroon, from Morocco have been held hostage by pirates in Nigerian waters.
The vessel was reportedly attacked by about six armed pirates who came with a speed boat, boarded the vessel and took away 10 crew members, all Turkish nationals and later abandoned the ship.
According to the reports, the alleged pirates fired and destroyed most of the navigational equipment at the bridge, completely crippled the vessel and took away the 10 crew members at gun point. They later deserted the ship at about 2300 hours with eight other crew members onboard, on Saturday, 13 July 2019.
Per the information, a Ghana Navy ship, GNS EHWOR which was conducting routine patrols at sea at the time swiftly responded to the situation, located and offered the necessary assistance to the vessel which had some challenges with some of its navigational equipment vandalized by the pirates.
The vessel was subsequently escorted to Tema by GNS EHWOR on Monday, 15 July, 2019 and is currently safe at the Tema Anchorage.
The Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Naval Command, Commodore James Osei Kontoh as a result of the incident has met with the Turkish Ambassador in Ghana, and some security agencies in the maritime sector of Ghana to discuss the perennial problem of piracy attacks in the Ghanaian territorial waters.
Meanwhile, a maritime stakeholder engagement which was earlier to discuss effective ways of curbing maritime crime in the Ghana maritime waters.