Location unknown of Leopard crew

Yesterday the speculation was the crew of the Leopard was taken, as the vessel was found with (apparently) all cargo intact.

Today however, there has been speculation the crew was killed.

This is what the BBC is reporting.

The two Danes and four Filipinos are now thought to be held on a captured Taiwanese fishing boat, the Shiuh Fu No.1, an EU naval official said.

Pirates in two skiffs attacked the Danish-flagged M/V Leopard on Wednesday but later took the crew off the ship.

Nato sailors searched the abandoned vessel. Its cargo is said to be intact.

The Nato sailors from a Turkish warship, the Gaziantep, boarded the M/V Leopard on Thursday, when it was found to be drifting.

It is not clear why the ship was immobilised, said a spokesman for the EU's Navfor anti-piracy mission.

"We believe the ship was carrying arms, ammunition and explosives, and we believe the cargo is still intact," said the spokesman, Wing Commander Paddy O'Kennedy.

The international naval forces refrained from attempting a rescue as a radio message picked up while the pirates were on board warned them to stay away, he said.

The M/V Leopard is reported to be about 810km (500 miles) from Oman's port of Salalah.

The ship's owner, Shipcraft, says "our main focus is now on the safe return of our crew; however, at present we do not hold any reliable information as to their whereabouts".

Shipcraft Vessel Hi- Jacked

I haven't mentioned all the ships which continue to be hijacked. This one was hijacked off the coast of Oman, so I am not sure it's the Somali Pirates, but I suspect so.

From Shipgaz news

The fate of the Danish coaster Leopard is still uncertain after a pirate attack yesterday in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Oman. The crew of Leopard reported an attack from two pirate boats at 2 pm on Wednesday. The crew of six (two Danish and four Filipinos) closed down the engine and rushed to the ship’s safe room, and there has been no contact with Leopard since then. This morning there is still no report from the ship, which is drifting at sea. The pirates are unable to enter the vessel as Leopard is secured with barbed wires and steel doors.

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Ship Hijacking in Nigeria

The hijackings by Somalian Pirates have been in the news quite a lot the last year.

We often forget there are other hotbeds for hijackings - Nigeria being one of them.

A tanker was hijacked in May 2009. Here is the account of the hijacking and release by the military.

One note, what I found interesting is the tanker was hired by the Nigerian Oil company to import refined oil into the country. Nigeria is a huge oil producing state, but they have had problems for years not being able to get it refined locally.

From allAfrica.com

Abuja — Napoleon Emphasis was the captain of an oil tanker ship, MC Spirit chartered by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to bring 20,000 metric tonnes of refined petrol (PMS) to the country on Wednesday, May 13, 2009.

I was actually taken by surprise. There was no sign that the militants were there. I am sure they also took the soldiers by surprise. Almost immediately, their boats numbering over 10 were all over the place. Some of them came in boats while those that first attacked us appeared from the nearby bush. They were very many and they appeared from all directions. I tried to manoeuvre my ship but no way. The militants were all over the place. Before I knew what was happening, they were hanging on my ship.

"The day the soldiers went to attack the camp to rescue us, the militants were also taken unawares by the counter-attack. There was confusion there. At first, the militants didn't know whether to run and leave us. They later summed up the courage and asked us to come out to the open and be waving our shirts so that the military helicopters did not kill them. But when they realised that soldiers were on ground and were advancing toward us, the militants took to their heels.

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