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Subscribe to RSSLAGOS, Nigeria -- Pirates off Nigeria's coast attacked a cargo ship Monday, killings its captain and chief engineer in the increasingly dangerous waters of the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa, officials said.
"All crew except the bridge team took shelter in the citadel. Due to the continuous firing the captain and the chief engineer were shot," a notice on the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) official said.
The captain and chief engineer died of their wounds as the pirates sprayed the ship with gunfire, said Cyrus Mody, an official at the bureau.
Mody said the bureau had yet to receive additional information about the ship and its crew, though they did contact authorities in Nigeria. A spokesman for Nigeria's navy and the nation's maritime safety agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
The killings come as another ship nearby was attacked this weekend and pirates hijacked a tanker ship off the coast of neighboring Benin on Thursday, according to the maritime bureau.
Pirates off the coast of Nigeria tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia.
The frequency of attacks, while not as high as off the Somali coast or surrounding Indian Ocean, is on the rise.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Why are we not arming these ships and blowing these aholes away?
Better still, send "decoy" ships that look like an easy target but full of well paid mercenaries and then kill every last one of the attackers...pretty soon, they will be VERY wary of any ship, not knowing if it holds certain death for them.
Taking prisoners is both a waste of time and downright STUPID! Attacking a ship should equal instant death.
While I agree with your sentiment, chances are it was not "our" ship. Very few merchant ships in the world are registered in USA or have USA crews. This area of the world is not in our jurisdiction and if it was not an American registered ship and crew it is not likely we would get involved unless we were requested by the country of registry or the country whose waters they were in.
The Russians had it right. When they sent special forces to retake a ship that had been hijacked, they set the "pirates" adrift to die a slow and agonizing death in the open ocean. More power to them. And more media exposure so that future African "entrepenuers" understand what awaits them.
Pirates used to be hung in short order when caught in the old days. Bring it back.
this is wrong too the up most! countries that travel through there need to arm the ship and bomb the s@@@ out of these retards. the navy needs to be over there just blowing the crap out of these cowards. the heck with diplomatic diplomacy. these butt people can not understand one good common since thing.
Time to carpet bomb.
I have traveled the world since 1966 starting with the Royal Navy & ending with the oil industry, I have been on every continent & most countries with a seaport. Nigeria is the only place I have ever felt in fear for my life! It is the most corrupt, dangerous place on gods earth, the place should never have been given independence, if it wasn't for oil the place would revert to jungle.
And you are finished just like the Royal Navy. You are barely holding on to independence yourself, but will soon be flying the US of Europe or US of A flag.
@Phil-673730....Pls read the story again...Its says off the coast of Nigeria. What an Idiot you just can't wait to make up storeis about your travelling around the world since 1966. Go take you high blood pressure med and shut the hell up.
Better yet Max. Why don't you take a long vacation to Nigeria and send us some pic. Ahole.
Phil...gotta agree with you, of all the corrupt, dirty, foul, scum bag places Nigera and it's coast are the worst! And...Max, it's too bad you failed remedial reading in the third grade, try it again! Shoot to kill every one of those low life scum pirates, and do the same off the coast of Somalia.
Modern Q-ships, armored and heavily armed,(Phalanx, guns, missiles) destroy the pirates and take no prisoners.
You guys are talking my language!!!!! What the hell is wrong with America...we have the muscle to enforce the "Rule of Law" and make a few of our own. We should forget about what the rest of the world says about our methods and simply punish all bad behavior with crushing force. After a very short time, all piracy will come to an abrupt end. Who, in their right minds, would go up against the US military if they know we meant business??
We need a new leader with a set of balls big enough to match the power he commands. When there is new sherrif in town, things tend to fall into place.
Those are very big oceans out there, we cannot police all the oceans of the world.
Well said, MM.
boilitdown: Just curious, but just how many ships do you think we have in our navy? Do you think we have enough to patrol every square inch of the worlds oceans? We'd be spread pretty dam thin to to have fleets large enough to patrol these waters along with the Red Sea, South China Sea, Gulf of Oman, Indian Ocean, Philippine Sea, and every other place there are pirates. Oh yeah, and don't forget that we have to patrol our own coasts so no drugs or illegal immigrants get on our shores, god forbid.
The oceans and seas are huge - much bigger than the continents. It always amazes me when people like you think our military can be everywhere, doing everything, solving all the world's problems. You have no idea how big the world really is.
The oceans are huge, so that is why you use the Q-ship model.
After a while the bait ships will make the Pirates gun-shy and lacking assets it is impossible that they up gun enough to stand a chance in a confrontation Bait / Q-ship.
Q-Ships never worked that well in the past, why do you think they would work now? All they really did well was drain resources and experienced navy seamen from the regular forces. We agree the oceans and seas are huge. The vast majority of the boat traffic in the area is legal merchant traffic. So how many Q-ships do you send in the area for how long to to catch a very small percentage of the ships that are pirates?
I really don't have a problem sending out naval ships to patrol for pirates in the hot spots. What I have a problem with is people who think that pirates are everywhere out there and whine about how we aren't just blasting them all out of the water. It ain't so easy when you realize the scale of the area and the amount of traffic that is legitimate. And it would take a very large naval force to make such a large area relatively safe.
I say 'relatively safe' because you can never eliminate the problem. The risk of even fatal penalties does not deter piracy any more than capital punishment does not deter murder or prison deter robbery. You may view it as punishment if you like, but don't go thinking that it will prevent other desperate criminals from doing what they will.
Just a wild guess here,,,,,,,, Muslims?
No just people who come from one of the most hellish parts of the world in which YOU would probably not last a day poverty and corruption, and lack of education is the root of all crime. Not that anyone wants to hear that. These are not people who grew up in the U.S. with the same basic opportunities that you have had. Not a justification, just and explanation.
Christians and Muslims each make up approx 50% of the population of NIgeria, so you might be right... or you might be wrong... almost as if you said nothing to begin with.
Also, the reason for piracy off the coast of Nigeria, just like in Somalia, is financial and not to make a political statement. Off the coast of Somalia the preferred method is seeking ransom, but in Nigeria it seems like they prefer the cargo itself... maybe because it's too difficult/risky to coordinate a ransom exchange?
Imran124.....wonder if it was some of the Nigerian princes, you know, the ones who are going to wire all of those millions into my bank account. I gave then all the info so I should be rich any day now..........
Arming the boat crew is only part of the solution and no fail safe against piracy. The crew are not trained soldiers and most of the companies they work for will not pay for private security or mercenaries to protect them. Would any of those who have commented be willing to leave your families and go volunteer to protect merchant vessels in that part of the world. I think not. Besides unless you are planning on killing every man woman and child in Nigeria you need to solve the crippling poverty and corruption that breed these circumstances before anything will change.
I would it sounds like a fun job
"you need to solve the crippling poverty and corruption that breed these circumstances"
As Afghanistan and other examples clearly show it is not possible for outside entities to effect the changes necessary to bring a local society out of the stone ages.
They need to straighten out their own house.
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Its pretty funny listening to all the arm chair fleet commanders comments about killing all the pirates like it was an easy thing to accomplish.The problem is there;s 1000 or more miles of water and a few dozen pirates.Thats about one pirate per 40 square miles which is like finding a needle in a hay stack.
If the oil companies used some of their profits to hire trained armed security forces this wouldn't be a problem.
And what about the non-oil tankers or do you suggest the "oil companies" (but the consumer ends up paying the bill) protect these other cargo ships as well?
Look at my suggestion #1.1...let the pirates come to prey and die.
Exactly George. The US along with several other countries already have battle ships deployed to the area. Its just to big of an area to pin point a few guys on motor boats.
UN Human Rights? I assume you mean UN muslim Rights! When are people going to realize the UN is a completely failed organization--just like the League of Nations. Good idea, but hijacked by the lowest, inbred, backward, useless people in history.
Actually, it would probably be very entertaining to those guys: arm everyone to the teeth, let the ships go on a free-for-all, and let their gods sort it all out.
"Oh, did I shoot up your fishing boat? Sorry about that, I saw a boat and thought you all were a bunch of pirates." Yeah, that would work real well in promoting peace onthe high seas...
Time to bring back the military convoy. Lets see the pirates try anything on a couple of ships flanked by military vessels. It worked against openly hostile forces, this should definitely work against a rag tag group of pirates.
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You keep paying them off and they will keep taken the ships and crews hostage. It really is supply and demand.........you supply the money so they willl demand more hostages.
there are military ships in the area but its a large area and they cant be everywhere at once. Numerous mother ships have been found but the only thing that is done is to sink the pirate vessels if they find them. We cant just go around shooting every ship in the area. A lot are actually fishermen and other boats. In fact our navy is not allowed to engage unless fired upon. When marines go toward the suspected pirate boat they throw all weapons overboard. We are not allowed to shoot them, kill them, or turn them over to their govt, (and what would that do they would be released and just get another boat). It apparently is too costly to arm the boats as it is easier to just pay the million dollars. So until somebody gets tired nothing will happen. BTW most of these boats are registered to foreign countries and so the US navy really has no interest in protecting them. We will if we are there and they are attacked but that has only happened a few times. Give the merchant marine arms and let them fire back. I am certain somebody on all those ships has some military experience. Couple machine guns, a few grenades, and a couple of rifles. The rocket launchers that the pirates are using probably have a range of two to three hundred meters. An m-60 has a range for point fire of 700 meters and area fire of 1100 meters. and if you can elevate the weapon you can spray bullets further. They get close to the side of the ship drop grenades over the side. I guarentee they will lose interest. But if all they have are a couple of pistols on board, first your crazy to ride a boat thru there and second you are in deep crap. Problem solved.
Protection from pirates is simple. It involves an armored perch which is erected by swinging into place as high as possable with twenty millimeter laser guided guns controlled from the bridge. The biggest hindrance is the shipping companies and their attitude that the losses are acceptable. The container ships pass by Africa every one to two weeks. The tankers, I would think, would be a problem. They need escort. They can't be trading shots with pirates. I would think dedicated satelites would be the answer.
Why do drones come to mind? A sensible possibility? Just sayin.
Can anyone enlighten me on what is the "legal" background prohibiting the arming of ships in open waters? Sounds like an out-dated 16th century law of some sort!!!! With changing times we ought to be thinking of changing restraints that aren't applicable any longer!!
So help me out here: you're suggesting we arm every boat on the water? So they can basically attack at will any boat that comes close to them? I'm thinking that kind of cure may be worse than the illness, lol.
You Can not arm every merchant ship. When a merchant ships enter a port it must comply with the laws of that country. The same as you would not want foreign nationals on foreign flag vessels arriving in US. ports armed. These ships sometime travel to many countries While delivering there cargo. As for an earlier comment about not many U.S. flag vessels off the Coast of Nigeria that is false there are plenty Vessels that are U.S. flag that support the oil Fields.
Black beard must be proud...
Another day of senseless violence courtesy of men with guns.
Tomorrow there will be more...
Not enough guns with the right men, you probably meant to say. Bleeding heart.
Since we are paying so much money to the UN how about they provide armed asault teams to be stationed on random ships throughout the troubled regions of the world. This should be simple enough if we can get China and Russia to vote for it in the securtiy counsel.
Hey, I've got a great idea! How about we send a U.N. Humanitarian Force to Somalia and deliver food, clean water and medicine. Then they will not resort kidnapping, murder and extortion. They will accept our good natured intentions and all will be right with the world. Oh! Wait, we tried that already.....never mind!