More than 60 hours after a Turkish chemical tanker with an all Indian crew of 24 sailors was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Port Gentil in Gabon in West Africa, the owners of the ship had till Wednesday evening not established “contact” with the crew members. Nor had the ship owners received any ransom demand yet from the hijackers.
MV Cotton, a Malta-flagged chemical tanker, was taken over by suspected pirates about 15 miles off Port Gentil at around 4.53 am local time on Monday, the owners said in a statement. The vessel was scheduled to load cargo at the Port Gentil. Media Reports quoting Turkey’s Ankara-based Foreign Ministry officials said that the satellite data had indicated that the vessel was heading northwards — towards Nigeria — early on Tuesday. However, subsequent reports quoting the same officials said that the vessel might have redirected its course towards the Ivory Coast.
The 2007-built and 184-meter long ship, which has a gross tonnage of 23,248 tonne, is owned by Turkish company Geden lines, and V Ships. Turkey is the crew manager for the hijacked ship. The all-Indian crew was recruited by V Ships Turkey’s Indian subsidiary V Ships, India. Shishir Wahi (54) is the captain of the ship. While six of the 24 crew members are from West Bengal and the North East region, rest of the crew members are from different parts of the country, including New Delhi and Punjab.
“There is absolutely no word yet from the owners of the hijacked ship. The owners of the ship have not established contact with the crew members on board the hijacked ship. Nor have they received any ransom demand from the hijackers,” Capt Vaibhav Dalvi, Director, Crewing Operations, V Ships India told “The Pioneer” here on Wednesday evening. Reading out a statement put out by Geden lines, owners and operators of the vessel, Capt Dalvi said: “Operators of the multi-flag 37879 DW chemical product tanker believe that vessel was boarded by suspected pirates at 0453 UTC on July 15 off the coast of Port Gentil, Gabon where the vessel was due to load cargo.
“The company’s priority is the safety of its seafarers and all possible steps to secure their safe return are being taken,” Capt Dalvi said.