THE reason the captain and his chief engineer were killed aboard a tanker 90 miles off of the of West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea was that they remained on the bridge with a skeleton crew as the rest of the men took shelter in the panic room, or citadel.
These are the findings of Michael Frodl, of C-LEVEL Maritime Risks, who will be speaking at the February 29 - March 1 Shipping Hong Kong's Risk Management conference.
On February 13, the ship was attacked by pirates, who failed to seize the vessel, but subjected the bridge to gunfire. Most of the crew retreated to a safe room, while a skeleton team stayed on the bridge some of who were wounded while the captain and his chief engineer died of bullet wounds.
"We then realised the events were linked - that the spectre of Somali piracy has inspired new aggressiveness on the part of pirates off West Africa, while it's inspired new fears in merchant vessels and their armed guards off West India. And that in both areas, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better - lots of people we think will die in the process," said Mr Frodl.
In an other controversial incident at the other end of the ever-extending pirate range, Italian Navy sailors and the tanker Enrica Lexie's captain have been charged with murder for killing fishermen they took to be pirates off Kerala in India supposedly outside Indian territorial waters, said Mr Frodl.
"Indian authorities claim that the so-called pirates were Indian fishermen mistaken for pirates on the attack - during which two were killed by 'ride-on' Italian Navy personnel," said Mr Frodl.
Mr Frodl will be joined by fellow panelists, PVI's Dom Mee, Rubicon Resolution (negotiators) on control risks, Trident Special Risks and Nicola Mason, vice president of Skuld P+I dealing with Piracy - Cost & Solution.