Versa

Nine crew members of the 'Alpine Penelope', who had been abducted on Feb 20 by armed pirates off Benin, have been released in good health. It was not known if ransom has been paid to have the crew released and, if so, how much has been paid. The relatives have been informed. There were 24 crew members aboard as the pirates attacked the tanker and fired several shots while the vessel was speeding at 13 knots. Several maritime organizations have called on the international community to send warships to the Gulf of Guinea to ensure shipping. France has so far been the only country to agree to send a warship.´

The 'Alpine Penelope' was boarded by two armed men on Feb 20, 2020, at 1.10 a.m. 73 miles sutheast of Kpeme in pos. 05 10N 002 05E. SSAS was activated, and after that, communications were lost. The tanker was enroute en route from Amsterdam to Lagos. The ship was under way again after drifting in southern direction for about 10 hours towards Lagos. It turned out that 10 out of 24 crew members were kidnapped. The crew included Georgian, Filipino and Ukrainian sailors. At 8.45 p.m. the tanker was moored near the Lagos secure anchorage. The Nigerian naval patrol vessel NNS 'Nguru' was patrolling the anchorage area.