The master and an engineer have been kidnapped from a product tanker off the coast of Benin, in what is a further escalation of violence off West Africa.
The vessel, said to be the 8,000-dwt St Marseille (built 2008), was approached late on Monday by five armed men in a speed boat, according to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre.
As they boarded the vessel they were confronted by the tanker’s armed security team and there was an exchange of fire injuring one of the guards.
