A suspected pirate wounded during an exchange of gunfire last month with the Danish navy off West Africa has been transferred to a hospital in Ghana, according to a report from the Danish military.
The report disclosed that the wounded man was transferred to a local hospital, where he is being guarded by Ghanaian police. The Danish military was quoted to have said that “it was no longer considered medically sound to have him on the frigate” and as such, decided to hospitalize the man during a port call in Ghana on Sunday, December 19, 2021.
Reports in Danish local media say no further details were given and the military didn’t say where in Ghana he was transferred.
A Danish frigate was reported on November 24, 2021 to have killed four pirates in waters south of Nigeria in an operation to protect shipping in the Gulf of Guinea with three others kept in custody after the incidence.
The Danish frigate HDMS Esbern Snare was sailing off West Africa on an international anti-piracy mission when it reacted to information that a vessel was approaching several commercial ships in the Gulf of Guinea off oil-rich Nigeria.
The frigate dispatched a Seahawk helicopter, whose crew reported seeing men on the vessel with “equipment connected to piracy, including ladders.”
A gunbattle ensued shortly after and the Danes reacted in self-defense, the Danish military said in a statement at the time. No Danes were injured. After the exchange of gunfire, the vessel sank and eight suspected pirates were taken onboard Esbern Snare, including one who was wounded and the bodies of the four who were killed.
Number of pirates on board
The Danish military initially said a total of eight pirates were spotted, but now say there was a ninth person. They don’t know what happened to the ninth suspected pirate.
The three others in custody face preliminary charges of attempted murder. They are believed to still be on the Danish frigate. A Copenhagen court ordered them held in custody while authorities investigate the case. In Denmark, preliminary charges are one step short of formal charges, reports say.
The frigate, which had a crew of about 175, arrived in the Gulf of Guinea in November and will be deployed there for five months. It can be recalled that Copenhagen, in March 2021, announced that it was sending the vessel to patrol the zone, where some 40 Danish ships operate daily.
The Gulf of Guinea remains one of the world’s most dangerous waterways with regular kidnappings. In 2019, the region accounted for more than 90% of global crew member abductions.
The piracy hotspot stretching 5,700 km (3,540 miles), from Senegal to Angola, the Gulf of Guinea, saw 195 attacks in 2020. The same year, 130 of 135 hostage-takings at sea occurred in the region, according to the International Maritime Office.
It is worrying because pirates create fear around the sea lanes that traverse the Gulf of Guinea, an area that is very important as it facilitates trade between southern and western Africa. It is also a key route for valuable goods such as crude oil emanating from Angola and Nigeria.
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