Barely two days after Exercise African Winds, organised by the African Partnership Station (APS) to tackle piracy in the Gulf of Guinea took off in Calabar, pirates yesterday attacked and took hostage two mariners.
The mariners who were said to be United States citizens were abducted off a C-Retriever, an oil platform supply vessel, off the coast of Brass in Nigeria waters.
The victims who were identified as the captain and chief engineer were working for the C-Retriever, owned by Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore.
When contacted, the Director Information, Nigerian Navy (NN), Commodore Kabir Aliyu, confirmed the incident, adding that personnel of the navy have instituted a search and rescue party.
He said, "The Nigerian Navy has received a report on the attack of a US flagged vessel C-Retriever. Accordingly, the NN has directed the operational commands and bases to commence a search and rescue operation.
"The authorities of the Central Naval Command are on the matter at the moment and are trailing the pirates in order to arrest them."
On whether the pirates's ship is visible on the Regional Maritime Awareness Centre (RMAC), Aliyu said the system has its area of coverage where the radar is limited to.
Nonetheless, he said all hands are on deck to ensure the victims are rescued alive and the pirates arrested and brought to book.
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