( CNN ) -- Pirates traded gunfire with Togo security forces early Tuesday from a hijacked oil tanker off the west coast of Africa , the International Maritime Bureau said . `` Apparently there was an exchange of fire between pirates on board the hijacked tanker and the naval patrol vessel , '' said Cyrus Mody , spokesman for the maritime bureau , based in London . A representative for Golden Energy Management , the Greek company that chartered the vessel , said there were 24 crew members on board , all of them Russian . The representative had no information on the condition of the crew and said company officials in Athens have been unable to establish contact with the sailors . The Isle of Man-flagged Energy Centurion was seized off the coast of the Togolese capital Lome , where it was anchored . A security official in Togo said authorities received the alert from the oil tanker around 2 a.m. `` We quickly sent patrols after it , but we did not succeed in catching the pirates who took control of the tanker and disappeared off the coast of neighboring Benin , '' said Col. Djibril Inoussa , the communications director of Togo Armed Forces . Pirate attacks down off Somalia , up off Nigeria . This is the second such attack in less than two weeks in the Gulf of Guinea , off the west coast of Africa . `` This has been an area of risk and a hotspot for a number of years , '' said Mody . He said the number of piracy incidents in Nigerian waters has been severely under-reported , and tend to be overshadowed by Somali piracy . While Somali piracy remains a serious threat , there has been an increase of attacks in the Gulf of Guinea , according to a recent report from International Maritime Bureau 's Piracy Reporting Center . The report said there were 32 attacks this year in the Gulf of Guinea -- including five hijackings , versus 25 in 2011 . The main difference between the East and West African pirate activities is that almost all the incidents in Nigeria are conducted within its territorial waters , whereas most of the incidents along the eastern coast of Africa and the Gulf of Aden occur on the high seas , according to the maritime bureau . Mody said it is possible that the same group responsible for Tuesday 's attack was involved in the hijacking of a UK-operated oil tanker August 19 . That vessel was later released off the coast of Nigeria . `` Their modus-operandi is to target mainly oil tankers , and steal the cargo , '' said Mody . He said refined oil -- gas or diesel -- is easy to sell on open black markets . The hijacked vessel is then either taken to the same location where it was picked up , or moved to another site and released . Mody said pirates also go through each crew cabin to see what they can take . He said crews are often beaten up , sometimes severely . `` Nigerian incidents tend to be very violent towards the crew , '' Mody said . Man described as high-ranking Somali pirate gets multiple life sentences . Journalists Erick Kaglan in Togo and Elinda Labropoulou in Athens contributed to this report .
They take over a pirate - operated tanker off the coast of Ghana . The pirates and members of the Togo navy exchange fire , the International Maritime Bureau says . ` ` This has been an area of risk and a hotspot for number of pirates , '' a maritime official says .