Pirates kidnap six fishermen in Gulf of Guinea

A group of armed men boarded a fishing vessel and abducted six of its 30-strong crew in the Gulf of Guinea off Benin on Wednesday, June 24.

The attack on the Ghanaian-flagged purse seiner Panofi Frontier occurred some 60 nautical miles south of Cotonou at around 14:30 UTC on Wednesday.

The perpetrators then left the seiner along with their six hostages. All were last seen on a skiff speeding towards Nigerian waters.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the kidnapped crew included one Ghanaian and five South Korean nationals.

Foreign ministy officials in Seoul have assured that they are working to secure the release of the abducted fishermen.

Security consultancy firm Dryad Global said the incident on Panofi Frontier is the seventh pirate attack (including both actual and attempted boardings) reported off Cotonou this year.