ENDO PONENTE

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Tanker allegedly attacked in Gulf of Guinea

A pirate incident has been reported in the Gulf of Guinea, involving the ' Endo Ponente',, en route from Kalamo, which was sailing off the coast of Togo. The vessel was attacked about 56 nautical miles south of Lomé on Aug 28, 2025. The tanker had departed its anchorage near Lomé on the morning and proceeded south at a steady speed before making a sharp turn in the evening and slowing almost to a stop. Its last AIS transmission was received shortly afterwards. The NIMASA C4i Centre in Lagos received an alert of the attempted attack at about 8:53 p.m. from the Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade (MDAT) Gulf of Guinea Watchkeepers, reporting that there were suspected pirates attempting to board the vessel near pos. 05°10' N, 001°23' E, close to Lome Port. The crew of the chemical tanker managed to take shelter in the citadel. Subsequent intelligence tracking placed the ship at 04°19'16" N, 01°35'59" E, within Ghana’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The Special Mission Vessel 'DB Lagos', operated by the Nigerian Navy under the Deep Blue Project, was deployed to intercept and secure the distressed tanker 60 nautical miles from the coast. When the pirates spotted the warship, they fled. The Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) team of the Togo Navy searched the tanker without finding any pirates left behind, and then freed the crew from the citadel. It was not clear whether the pirates managed to board the tanker or whether they were just in the process of doing so. The Togo Navy promptly reported the situation to the Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre , MMCC, Zone E, Under the Yaoundé Architecture for maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, which covers Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Niger Republic. The MMCC Zone F, headquartered in Accra, Ghana, provided constant monitoring and information-sharing with all relevant stakeholders throughout the incident.