Seventy-one fishermen rescued after pirate attack off Central Region coast
Seventy-one fishermen were rescued and brought home safely after a pirate attack at sea on Wednesday evening.
The Central Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Emmanuel Dawood Mensah, said the pirates, reportedly speaking pidgin English, ordered the fishermen to hand over their outboard motors, generators, mobile phones, and cash.
“They got away with seven outboard motors, five generators, mobile phones, cash and fuel,” Mr Mensah added.
The fishermen were on board seven canoes: one from Tema, two from Chorkor in the Greater Accra Region, and four from Senya Beraku in the Central Region.
Mr Mensah praised the collaboration between NADMO, the Navy, the Marine Police, the Fisheries Commission, and local fishermen groups for ensuring the safe return of all the crew.
He added that police had taken statements from the crew, NADMO had conducted an assessment, and the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya, Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui, had provided psycho-social support to the affected fishermen. Investigations are ongoing.
The President of the Ghana Canoe and Fishing Gear Owners Association, Nana Kweigah, said they received information about the incident around 7 pm on Wednesday.
He explained that the crew had set sail from Senya Beraku earlier in the day but were attacked between Senya Beraku and Dampase in the Central Region.
“The pirates were reported to have fired gunshots before ordering the crew members to hand over their phones, outboard motors, fuel and generators,” Nana Kweigah said.
He described the immediate challenge as locating and communicating with the fishermen at sea.
“Our greatest challenge was communication and location,” he said. “In each of the cases, the robbers reportedly instructed one of the crew to place a call back home and report the incident before taking all the phones. Throughout the night we struggled to establish contact.”
Even after alerting the Navy, determining the exact location of the attacked canoes remained difficult, he added.
Nana Kweigah urged authorities to equip fishermen with better communication and monitoring tools for enhanced safety at sea.
He said: “There is a need to relook at equipping fishers with the needed communication and monitoring gadgets and systems while at sea for enhanced safety.”
