Pirates Now Prefer Human Hostages Over Ships and Cargo

Rohan Ruparelia still has flashbacks from his kidnapping three years ago—and every time he hears news about pirate attacks, he fears for the victims. For the last few months, the merchant seaman from Mumbai has been studying at East Coast College in Lowestoft, England, in hope of reaching the rank of chief officer when he returns to sea next year. Life is quiet in the small North Sea town—the way Ruparelia likes it. That’s also the reason he loves being out at sea. “I don’t like crowds or too many people around or too much chaos,” he says. “It’s about solitude. I enjoy that.” But the word from the high seas hasn’t been calming.

There have been two large-scale acts of piracy in the waters off West Africa this month alone. On Dec. 3, 19 people were taken hostage when hijackers attacked the oil tanker Nave Constellation as it was anchored off the coast of Nigeria. In the first nine months of 2019, more than 100 ships around the world were assaulted by pirates, with most of the hostage-taking occurring in the broad Gulf of Guinea—shared by Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Cameroon. According to the International Maritime Bureau, about 86% of the incidents worldwide took place there. The hijacking of the Nave Constellation is just one of the latest attacks, says Max Williams, chief operation officer of security firm Africa Risk Compliance Ltd. “There’s been a spate in the last 40 days of quite significant maritime security incidents in the area.”