1998 – Piracy in Trinidad and Tobago – Trinidad – Hibiscus Gas Platform

Reported Incident Details from Trinidad and Tobago

An incident of Piracy has been reported in Trinidad and Tobago – Trinidad – Hibiscus Gas Platform.

Incident Date	2015-12-20 at 12:00
Event Type	Piracy
Stolen Items	Money, passports, cell phones, computers, food clothing and ship’s documents, cash, credit cards, wallets, clothes, luggage, watches, books, sailing gear, keys, food, miscellaneous electronics, toiletries, and other items.
Secured	N/A
Source Type	2nd Hand Report
Incident Details	On December 20 at approximately noon, a 24 meter (80 ft) sailing yacht was sailing from Chaguaramas Trinidad N. to Port Louis Grenada, at about the halfway point In the vicinity of the Hibiscus Gas platform or 30 miles N of Trinidad. The crew were busy working on the backstay and didn’t notice the boat until it was right on their stern. VEN Pen Typical open style fishing boat sometimes used by bandits It was an 18 ft narrow open boat, white hull with blue inside fishing type boat with 5 young men aboard. The fishing boat had 4 blue barrels that the crew guessed was extra fuel. They had a 120 hp Yamaha outboard engine, and an additional engine laying on the boat’s floor. We were approached from the south astern by the men speaking Spanish apparently asking for something. Once close to the yacht, one individual pulled out a military type assault rifle and made it clear they were coming aboard. The crew was held at gunpoint the BG Group Data book 2014 – Where we work – Trinidad & Tobago Hibiscus Gas Platform location is in upper left of graphis with red circle. entire time. 2 guys stayed in the boat, 2 went through the boat. 1 with the gun stayed with the captain and 2 yacht crew in the cockpit. The pirates below deck proceeded to put the valuables in bags and luggage found inside the boat, and transport said bags into their dinghy. No shots fired. They were aboard for approximately 15 minutes and took money and electronics. None of the 3 crew were injured. all three pirates on board, jumped back into their dinghy, and started motoring south, from the same direction in which they came. The yacht carried on to Grenada and reported the incident to the US Coast Guards, who reported to Trinidad and Grenada Coast Guards. At some point within the hour of reporting the incident to the USCG, the Trinidad and Tobago coast guard called the satellite phone to review the report that was forwarded to them via the USCG. CSSN NOTE: CSSN original report was from sources directly in contact with captain and crew and was necessarily classified as second hand. The Captain of the yacht has now confirmed all the facts of this report directly to CSSN. The captain provided additional detail which has been edited into this report. This report is is updated to a first hand, confirmed report with quotes and information also taken from the Captain’s official written report to authorities.

Nearby incidents : in the past 5 years, at a distance of 10 Kilometers.

No nearby incidents found.