At least a dozen crew members have been reported as abducted following a raid by pirates on a European gas tanker. The LPG carrier flying the flag of Portugal was assaulted off Equatorial Guinea on the western coast of Africa early Monday. The CGas Saturn, constructed in 2003 and operated by Denmark’s Christiania Gas, was en route to Malabo, the capital of the country, when the incident occurred approximately 50 nautical miles west of Mbini, as stated by security firm Vanguard.
Following the attack, four crew members were left aboard the vessel, with one allegedly sustaining injuries from a stray bullet, according to maritime source Splash 247. Statistics from Statista indicate that there were approximately 116 pirate attacks on ships worldwide last year, a decrease from the peak of 445 incidents reported in 2010.
The Gulf of Guinea remains a focal point for pirate activities, with the majority of incidents concentrated around Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. The International Maritime Bureau reported 15 incidents in the area during the first nine months of 2025, with ten occurring within territorial waters labeled as armed robbery and the remaining five classified as piracy.