The Ghana Navy is investigating a suspected pirate attack on the Ghanaian-registered fishing vessel MENGXIN 1, which occurred in Ghanaian waters on the evening of Thursday, 27 March 2025.
According to a press statement issued by Brigadier General E. Aggrey-Quashie, Director General of Public Relations, at approximately 1753 hours, preliminary reports indicated that seven armed individuals boarded the vessel and fired warning shots.
This prompted several crew members to seek refuge in a secure area.
“The pirates stayed on board for about three hours after assembling everyone on deck and confiscating their mobile phones,” the statement revealed.
Following the departure of the attackers, the crew emerged from hiding only to discover that the Captain, Chief Mate, and Chief Engineer— all Chinese nationals—were missing. They are suspected to have been kidnapped by the pirates.
Due to a lack of mobile network coverage at sea, the remaining crew had to sail closer to land before reporting the incident.
The fishing vessel has since docked safely at Tema Fishing Harbour, and the rest of the crew is unharmed. Marine Police and the Eastern Naval Command’s Naval Intelligence personnel have conducted initial interrogations, confirming the attack and suspected abduction.
To aid in the search for the missing crew members, authorities have shared information on the incident with neighboring countries through the ECOWAS Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre (MMCC) Zone F in Accra, under the Yaoundé Architecture for Maritime Security.
This move is aimed at alerting regional partners to assist in tracking down the perpetrators.
“All efforts are being made by intelligence agencies to locate and free the kidnapped crew members,” the statement assured.
Read full statement below
