The Nigerian Navy yesterday, disclosed that it had rescued an oil vessel, 11 hours after it was hijacked by pirates, off the coast of Lagos.
The oil vessel, MT Abu Dhabi Star, with a 23 member crew on board, which was reportedly carrying product suspected to be gas meant for Exxon Mobil, was attacked and seized by pirates yesterday, where it anchored 80 Kilometres off the coast of Lagos.
Report said the panic stricken sailors sent distress signals after the pirates boarded the ship, with their last message indicating that they had locked themselves up in one of the cabins apparently for fear of being maimed or even killed by the invaders.
When the Nigerian Navy got the signal, two of its war ships, one of them, NNS Zaria and a helicopter, as gathered, went on hot pursuit .
The Director of Naval Information, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu in a statement, noted that the foreign ship, MT Abu Dhabi was rescued by the Naval warship, NNS Zaria .
He said, “on sighting the naval ship and helicopter which were on patrol, the hijackers jumped from the ship and escaped. There was no exchange of fire. All the crew members are safe. The rescued ship will anchor within the Lagos harbour under naval protection until investigation is completed”.
However, the exact point where the oil vessel was rescued could not be immediately ascertained.
The Western Naval Command Information Officer, Lieutenant Commander Jerry Omodara also confirmed to Vanguard that the vessel had been rescued.
Sources told Vanguard that the 23 crew members, all Indians on board the Singapore-owned oil tanker operated by a Dubai-based company, Pioneer Ship Management Services LLC, were safe.
The incident occurred just as the Nigerian Navy is embarking on several trainings on piracy from its counterparts in the western world with a view to curbing activities of piracy, sea robbers and other illegality on the nation’s water ways.
Two days ago, a Brazilian Navy offshore patrol vessel, ‘AMAZON P120’began a three-day port call to Nigeria, with anti-piracy training programme for personnel of the Nigerian Navy as part of its mission. The ship came barely a week after a US Naval ship, HSV 2 SWIFT also visited the country for similar training.
