A South Korean captain and four crew members of a fishing boat have reportedly been kidnapped in waters off Ghana, in west Africa.

According to Dryad Global, a maritime security and intelligence provider, on Thursday, pirates appeared to have kidnapped the five crew members of the Atlantic Princess, a tuna boat, at around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in waters off Tema, Ghana. 

The crew is reportedly made up of a South Korea captain, three Chinese officers and one Russian bosun.

Dryad Global said one speedboat with eight pirates onboard approached the fishing boat and five armed men then boarded, adding that the fishing vessel is understood to have been hijacked.

Dryad said this latest attack ends a significant hiatus of activity within the Gulf of Guinea and thus far within 2021 there have been 56 personnel kidnapped in five incidents involving vessels operating within the Gulf of Guinea.