MOSCOW - Unidentified gunmen seized a Russian oil tanker and 20 crew off the coast of Sierra Leone and are holding the vessel in the Guinean capital Conakry, Russian rescue officials said on Tuesday. The Luchegorsk refuelling tanker was sailing in Sierra LeoneÂ’s economic zone in the Atlantic Ocean when it was boarded by ten men armed with automatic rifles and dressed in black, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.They accused the captain of entering a foreign economic zone without authorization, impounded shipping documents and the crewÂ’s passports and demanded 20,000 US dollars in cash. The tanker and its crew of 19 Russians and 1 Chinese interpreter was then taken to Conakry where at least three of the gunmen remained on board.
The Maritime Shipping Company described the seizure as “piracy” and responded by deploying guards near the moored ship. Russian diplomats were investigating the incident.
The 97-metre, 3,086-ton Luchegorsk is used to fuel fishing boats in the Atlantic.
Its detention was reportedly the second attack on the companyÂ’s vessels this year. In May, a group of heavily armed men boarded a tanker off Conakry and extorted 3,000 dollars from the crew before leaving.