Maritime Injury Blog

Are vessel owners doing enough to protect employees from pirate attacks?

A pirate attack off the coast of West Africa has claimed the life of a Ukrainian officer.  The officer, Commander Maxime Ahoyo, was the chief officer on the Monrovia-flagged “Canacle Star” when it was attacked by pirates 18 miles off the coast of Benin.

The attack was typical of pirate attacks seen in the area.  According to the ship’s captain, six or seven pirates approached the vessel in a speed boat and boarded.  They were armed, and at gunpoint asked a sailor to open the ship’s safe.

The safe was opened and the pirates stole an undisclosed amount of money.  In addition to killing Ahoyo the pirates also injured four other crew members, one seriously.  One pirate was captured by crew members when one of the tanker’s crew members sounded a siren.  The captured pirate is from a border town in Nigeria.

Piracy is becoming an increasingly serious threat to maritime workers, and employers, ship owners and governments are under pressure to do more to protect ships and their crews.  Naval vessels from around the world have been deployed over the last year in an effort to discourage pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden.  Pirates, however, have just moved on and are now causing problems for mariners in the Indian Ocean and as far out as the Seychelles.

Maritime law attorney Brian Beckcom has criticized the owners of one American-flagged ship for failing to do enough to protect their crew, and relying on the U.S. military to come to their rescue after the fact.  One thing is for sure: pirate will continue to take advantage of cargo-rich ships until owners take the threat seriously.