M/V Mozart: Tragic development

1 killed and 15 kidnapped from Turkish cargo ship off Sao Tome in the Gulf of Guinea.

By Marc Allen, Maritime Direct UK.

The pirates that boarded the Liberian-flagged cargo ship, M/V Mozart, on Saturday, have kidnapped 15 crew members and killed one of them. This update to the story was issued by the ship’s management company, Boden Denizcilik AS yesterday. The Turkish-owned ship was en route from Lagos to Cape Town when it was attacked in the early hours of 23rd while 98nm NW of Sao Tome.

The crew took refuge in the ship’s citadel, but after a six-hour standoff, the pirates were able to force entry. In the ensuing struggle, one crew member was killed; the Turkish Maritime Directorate has identified him as Engineer Farman Ismayilov of Azerbaijan. He was the only non-Turkish member of the ship’s company.

According to reports from Turkish state-run news agency, Anadolu, the pirates disabled most of the ship’s onboard systems apart from basic navigational aids and left three crew members aboard to pilot the vessel back to port in Port-Gentil, Gabon.

Dryad Global describes this as an exceptional incident and says this is the farthest offshore pirate-attack yet recorded in West African waters. It advises all vessels to transit the area at least 200nm-250nm offshore, to maintain the highest level of vigilance and implement full hardening in accordance with BMP West Africa.