BREAKING: CMA CGM Turquoise Attacked, Two Crew Kidnapped

zoomImage Courtesy; Interpol A containership owned by the French shipping major CMA CGM has been attacked by pirates off Nigeria, who are reported to have kidnapped two crew members. The ship has been identified as CMA CGM Turquoise by Maritime Trade Information Sharing Centre for the Gulf of Guinea ( MTISC-GOG). UK based security company Clearwater confirmed to World Maritime News the identity of the ship and the information on the kidnapping. The MTISC-GOG has received a report indicating that at about 2156 UTC on April 11th a vessel was attacked while en-route from Lagos to Douala in approximate position; 04 07.33’N 005 24.12’E, the report said. Once the pirates were on board, the ships security alert system was activated and all but two crew members on board went to Citadel. The two crew outside of the Citadel are suspected to have been kidnapped, the report further adds. According to the ships latest AIS data, the 2009-built Liberia-flagged boxship is underway using engine in the Gulf of Guinea. Investigations and searching of the vessel is being conducted by Nigerian Navy as of Tuesday. This is the second incident that occurred on the same day in the region. Namely, a group of eight pirates attacked the Malta-flagged tanker MT Puli and kidnapped the vessel’s six crew members some 118 nautical miles off Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The ship was enroute from Douala port to Nigerian Abidjan port, when it was hijacked. The pirates stole cash, ship’s properties, crew personal belongings and escaped with the kidnapped crew. World Maritime News Staff