The fishing vessel
THREE KOREAN expatriate officers on board a Ghanaian flag vessel registered with the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) under the name, Marine 711, have reportedly been taken hostage by suspected pirates on the high seas of Keta in the Volta Region.
The expatriates, with the ranks of Captain, Chief Officer and Chief Engineer, are in the custody of the captors as their location is said to be unknown.
The pirates allegedly attacked the vessel – with official number 316694 and registration number AFT28 – which was carrying an estimated crew of 46, including the three expatriates, when the alleged incident occurred last Monday.
However, the 43 Ghanaians have been released together with the fishing vessel, which is on its way to the Tema Port.
Security agencies in Ghana and their counterparts in other countries are collaborating to track the suspected pirates down.
Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that the tuna vessel was hijacked by the pirates at about 5:20 pm.
The World Marine Company Ltd, owners of the hijacked vessel, believes that the pirates reached the vessel with a speed boat.
Owners of the vessel were said to have received information about the hijacking at 1747 hours from another tuna vessel and, immediately got in touch with the Ghana Navy and the Fisheries Commission for necessary support.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of Environment and Safety Standards at the Ghana Maritime Authority, Captain Inusah Abdul-Nasir, told citifm, “This incident was reported at about 6:00 pm on Monday. We have a system at the Ghana Maritime Authority which we use to track vessels in the Maritime domain so during this monitoring system at about 1800 hours of Monday, there was a call from the vessel. Actually, these vessels do not call but they were calling the navy, and there was no response so we intercepted the call and called back, but unfortunately the vessel did not respond. The operator subsequently called to say a fishing vessel was purportedly hijacked.”
By Vincent Kubi