Ghana’s navy has rescued 5 persons on board a Ghanaian fishing vessel which was reported missing on Monday in an alleged hijack by pirates.

They were taken hostage by some alleged Nigerian hijackers, who attempted to seize the tuna vessel, Marine 711 on the Keta high seas on Monday.

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He narrated that they received series of information on Monday dawn about vessels under attack, which placed them on high alert.

“For the past 48 hours, we have had series of attacks which we tried to unravel. It all happened Monday dawn about 03:30 when a speedboat came to the Tema anchorage area and forcefully took over a vessel and started heading towards the Togolese waters until the vessel complained of not having enough fuel to continue the journey.”

The hijackers then abandoned the first vessel, took 3 personnel from the first vessel with them and hijacked another vessel.

The second hijacked vessel was asked to head towards Bayelsa in Nigeria. But another lack of fuel caused the hijackers to again abandon the second vessel for a fishing vessel.

They took 2 crew members from the second vessel in addition to the previous 3 into the third hijacked fishing vessel and headed towards the Benin waters.

The second hijacked vessel sent a signal after the hijackers left. A dispatch team was sent to save the crew immediately.

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Commodore Kontoh said they were taken by surprise by this recent hijack.

“The Ghana Navy has always been on high alert and we have been able to deter pirates from our waters on several occasions, but this very current hijack took us unaware”.

He said they are doing everything possible together with their Nigerian counterparts to ensure the 5 hostages are freed and the hijackers arrested.

Meanwhile, one of the crew members who was found together with the abandoned vessel is currently receiving medical treatment as a result of the traumatic experience.

The vessel, Marine 711, with official No. 316694, and registration No. AFT28 has successfully rescued and is currently at berth 10 at the Tema Port.