A new video has surfaced online showing an apparent pirate attack on a containership in the Gulf of Guinea.
The video, obtained by the British security firm ASKET, shows eight men aboard a skiff chasing a containership as the crew of the ship watches over the rails. As the camera zooms in, you can clearly see a tall ladder that the pirates would use to scale the side of the vessel.
According to ASKET, the attempted boarding occurred on December 7, 2017, off the coast of Nigeria and involved a Singapore-flagged containership. The vessel and crew have been reported safe.
Although the waters off Nigeria are among the most dangerous in the world in terms of piracy, current laws prevent ships from having embarked armed security teams like they do off the coast of Somalia, where piracy has fallen dramatically since its peak in 2011. Just watch the video below showing how a similar attack by pirates off the coast of Somalia was ended abruptly by the security team: