Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09COTONOU557
2009-11-24 15:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Cotonou
Cable title:  

BENIN: PIRATES ATTACK TANKER IN GULF OF GUINEA

Tags:  PBTS MCAP EWWT PHSA BN 
pdf how-to read a cable
INFO LOG-00 EEB-00 CIAE-00 INL-00 DODE-00 DOTE-00 DS-00 
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 ISN-00 NSCE-00 OES-00 OMB-00 NIMA-00 PA-00 MCC-00 
 PM-00 GIWI-00 PRS-00 MA-00 P-00 SCT-00 ISNE-00 
 DOHS-00 FMPC-00 SP-00 SSO-00 SS-00 TRSE-00 T-00 
 EPAE-00 IIP-00 PMB-00 DSCC-00 PRM-00 DRL-00 G-00 
 SAS-00 GSWA-00 SWCI-00 SANA-00 /000W
 
O 241551Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1191
INFO ECOWAS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L COTONOU 000557 


DEPT FOR AF/W AND PM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2019
TAGS: PBTS MCAP EWWT PHSA BN
SUBJECT: BENIN: PIRATES ATTACK TANKER IN GULF OF GUINEA

Classified By: Poloff: reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L COTONOU 000557


DEPT FOR AF/W AND PM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2019
TAGS: PBTS MCAP EWWT PHSA BN
SUBJECT: BENIN: PIRATES ATTACK TANKER IN GULF OF GUINEA

Classified By: Poloff: reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) On November 24 at approximately 2:30 AM three
Nigerian pirates boarded the 750-foot, Liberian-flagged
tanker M/T Cancale Star in Benin's near international waters
south of Cotonou, approximately 14 nautical miles offshore.
Second in command Chief Officer Oleksiy Frolin was killed and
three crew members injured. The dead and injured are Russian
and Ukrainian. The Captain, Joroslars Semenovics, is
Lithuanian. The ship had recently transferred crude oil to
another vessel. There were no Americans among the 24 crew
members.


2. (C) Poloff was first informed of the event while meeting
with the Chief of Defense Staff with visiting Naval and
Marine attaches (resident in Accra). During the meeting, the
Beninese navy sent a small craft to board the vessel. The
crew had already subdued one pirate and were moving the
vessel from 18.5 nautical miles from the port to four
nautical miles from the port to accommodate the range of the
Beninese navy vessel. The other pirates fled the vessel at
approximately 3:30 AM by pirogue when the crew sent a
distress call. The tanker was too large to dock at the port
of Cotonou and accordingly anchored offshore for the
investigation.


3. (C) Attaches accompanied the Chief of Naval forces to the
Cotonou Benin Navy Base; witnessed debarkation of the suspect
and injured crew members; and spoke with a French naval
officer (Frigate Commander Francois Marty -- posted to Benin
for a French military cooperation program) who had boarded
the Cancale Star with Beninese Navy personnel. The captain of
the tanker provided a statement which the French navy officer
shared with attaches. The ship was boarded by grappling
lines via the poop deck. The pirates robbed the captain's
safe while holding the ship's Second Officer Rizkovs at gun
point. The captain reported that several crew members,
including himself, had been bound and laid on the floor. At
2:53 AM Chief Officer Oliksiy was killed by one sh?)/`QQ,6de by the
public prosecutor. END COMMENT.


KNIGHT