On Sunday 22nd March, 2020 pirates boarded the MSC operated feeder container ship MSC TALIA F around 52 nautical miles west of Port Libreville, the Gabonese Republic in the Gulf of Guinea and kidnapped 7 crew.
Security consultancy firm Dryad Global said the attack on the ship which is owned by Technomar Shipping of Greece, occurred at around 0730 UTC as she was sailing for Port of Libreville in Gabon after having earlier departed the Togolese capital of Lome.
Other crew members remained aboard the vessel after the pirates left with their hostages, who have all been identified as Ukrainian nationals.
The vessel’s AIS track shows that she resumed her voyage to Libreville within hours of the attack with ETA set at 2000 UTC on Sunday. As informed, this is the first incident within this area in 2020. Within 2019 there were 4 recorded incidents at Port Libreville and the Owendo Anchorage involving a spate of incidents in December 2019.
Photos by Capt. Lawrence Dalli. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
Published – Tuesday 24th March, 2020
