Until being captured by the pirates the fishing vessel was pursued by a speedboat. The abducted crew includes five Korean mariners and one Ghanian.

Dryad Global said that the speedboat was last seen heading east toward Nigerian waters.

“This is the 7th incident within the waters off Cotonou within 2020. The last incident recorded within this area was on the 14 May 20 when a vessel was approached 106nm South Cotonou,” the maritime security firm stated.

As explained, this reflects a substantial increase in coverage in this region compared to last year where only three incidents were reported in 2019 as a whole.

It is the second boarding of a fishing vessel in the waters off Lome and Cotonou, the earlier incident involving the Hailufeno 11 hijack on 15 May 2020.

The Gulf of Guinea remains the world's piracy hotspot based on the IMB's latest piracy survey.

In the first quarter of 2020, 21 attacks by predominantly armed perpetrators were recorded in the Gulf of Guinea. Through speedboats, they approach boarding ships to steal supplies or cargo and kidnap crew members to claim a ransom.

Maritime Business World