Oya1

On Aug 21, six crew members have been released by pirates following their kidnapping from the 'Oya I' on June 30 at an anchorage off Doula. Two Cameroonian military vessels had responded to the incident, arriving at the scene within minutes. They left a little over an hour later. Three days before the kidnapping, shipowners were alerted to an increased threat of pirate attacks off West Africa. The ship was also targeted by pirates in August 2017 off Nigeria.

The "Oya 1" was attacked by pirates in the night of July 29, 2017, in position 04 10N 006 59E, about 20 miles off Bonny in the Gulf of Guinea. Pirates boarded the ship and kidnapped five crew members. The pirates plundered the ship and brought most of the crew on board their zodiac and left only one person aboard the "Oya 1". The Nigerian Navy was alerted, and the vessel was taken to Bonny. It had sailed from Takoradi Ghana on July 27, probably bound to Douala. Moroccan merchant navy officers have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene urgently with the Nigerian and Congolese authorities to demand the release of two Moroccan hostages kidnapped by the pirates. The captain and an engineer were take to an unknown destination. The two Moroccan hostages were in their fifties and are graduates of the Higher Institute of Maritime Studies. Until now the pirates have not manifested themselves.