ABUJA/LONDON, Feb 14: Pirates attacked three vessels off the coast of Nigeria in the space of eight days this month, killing one person, a maritime agency said, in a sign of worsening security off the coast of Africa’s biggest oil exporter.

Gunmen killed a crew member when they attacked a chemical tanker carrying out a ship-to-ship transfer at Lagos port on Feb 4 before a security team repelled the attackers, piracy watchdog the International Maritime Agency said in a report.

The tanker was the Dubai-managed Pyxis Delta and the crew member killed was a Filipino, security firm AKE said. The Nigerian navy declined to comment on the attack.—Reuters