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Piracy - attacks off West Africa

7 November 2008

As the towage and salvage contractor Svitzer announces that it is to
re-route its vessels around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the threat of
piracy in the Gulf of Aden, there have been reports of increases in acts
of piracy off the west coast of Africa.

Ten seafarers were taken hostage by armed Cameroonian pirates on 31
October in the Gulf of Guinea. The hostages - six Frenchmen, two
Cameroonians, a Tunisian and a Franco-Senegalese - were aboard the
Bourbon Sagitta, a French-flagged tug supply vessel contracted by the
Total oil group. The attackers were believed to be members of the
"Bakassi Freedom Fighters", who later claimed that one of the hostages
was killed in a failed rescue attempt by Cameroonian forces, although
this has not been verified by the Cameroonian foreign ministry.

Another Bourbon vessel was also recently attacked off West Africa. Two
crew members of the Bourbon Apsara were held for more than a month after
being taken captive by armed rebels in an attack on a shore base near
Port Harcourt in Nigeria.

* ITF General Secretary David Cockroft was a co-signatory to a
joint letter from the shipping industry published in 'Lloyd's List' on 3
November calling for combined international action to restore safe
navigation in the Gulf of Aden. Please click on the link below to see the full letter.

All attacks and suspicious sightings should be reported to the IMB
Piracy Reporting Centre, Tel: +603 2031 0014 (24 hours), Email:
imbkl@icc-ccs.org.

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4 November 2008
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