Container ship the MSC LUCIA, sailing under Panama's flag, was boarded by an unknown number of attackers 86 nautical miles (159 kilometres) southwest of the Agbami oilfield terminal in the Gulf of Guinea, the Dryad Global maritime security intelligence company has reported.
The company noted that the incident is understood to be ongoing. According to Dryad Global, a warship was on its way to the site of the incident. The website Maritime Bulletin claimed that Russian Navy supply tanker the "Akademik Pashin" approached the MSC LUCIA following the reports of the boarding, but it is unclear if it was able to help the container ship.
Sputnik could not independently verify the report about the Russian Navy ship attempting to come to the vessel's rescue.
Vessels sailing in the region were advised to exercise "extreme caution", as apparently the threat of new attacks remains. Dryad Global previously warned that ships in an area northwest of São Tomé and Príncipe, an African island nation, had a high risk of encountering pirates.
At the same time, Maritime Domain Awareness Trade (MDAT-GoG), a joint project of the UK and French Navies, also reported a ship having been boarded around the same region. It is unclear if it was the MSC LUCIA, but MDAT-GoG said that the incident was over and that the ship and crew were safe