Pirates are reported to have hijacked a 15-year-old crude oil tanker, Malta-flagged Kalamos, off the Nigerian coast, taking three hostages and killing the vessel’s Greek deputy commander.
The Greek coastguard confirmed that Malta-flagged Kalamos was anchored and awaiting fresh cargo from Qua Iboe, an oil terminal in Nigeria’s southeastern region operated by ExxonMobil, when it was boarded on Tuesday.
Report says that two of the three hostages are Greek, and that Greeks make up 10 out of the total 23 crew.
A spokeswoman for the coastguard said that the hijacking of the tanker took place in the Gulf of Guinea, which experts have said is the new epicentre of piracy in Africa.
It would be recalled that between January and September last year, the area recorded 33 incidents of piracy and armed robbery.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, the pirates operating off the coast of Nigeria, Togo and Benin are heavily armed and violent, and often hold crews hostage for several days. [myad]
