Pirates Kidnap Eight from Greek Tanker Off Cameroon

MT Happy Lady. Photo: MarineTraffic.com/K. Faasse

By Sotiris Nikas (Bloomberg) –Five Greeks, two Filipinos and a Ukrainian were abducted by unidentified assailants from the Greek-flagged tanker ‘Happy Lady’ while the vessel was anchored two nautical miles from Limboh port in Cameroon.

The attack on the 28 crew-member ship took place in the early hours Tuesday, the Greek Shipping Ministry said in an emailed statement. The Happy Lady is a chemical/oil tanker with a carrying capacity of 51,390 tons and is owned by Athens-based Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Ltd, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“We’re doing everything needed for them to be released and returned home,” Greek Shipping Minister Yannis Plakiotakis said in a social media post. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis asked the minister to take what ever action necessary for the incident to be happily resolved.

A sixth Greek sailor was injured in the attack. Pirates abducted four crew members in November from another Greek-flagged oil tanker while the vessel was docked in the port of Lome in Togo

The incident in Cameroon is being closely monitored by the Greek Foreign Ministry.

© 2019 Bloomberg L.P

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 109,078 members