Sharp rise in piracy on the high seas

Sydney Morning Herald
January 28, 2004 - 1:52PM

Pirate attacks on ships worldwide increased last year to 445, with 21 sailors killed and 71 crew members or passengers missing. The London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported that the number of attacks using guns rose to 100 from 68 and the number of hostages taken nearly doubled to 359 seafarers.

Ships were boarded in 311 instances and a total of 19 ships were hijacked. The IMB said it was the second highest number of attacks since the organisation's Malaysia-based Piracy Reporting Centre began compiling statistics in 1991, slightly below the 469 incidents in 2000 but sharply up from the 370 attacks in 2002.

"There were 71 crew or passengers missing in 2003 and this should be considered along with the 21 confirmed killed," the report said. "In 23 per cent of the attacks, tankers were the targets. The fact that these ships carrying dangerous cargoes may be temporarily under the control of unauthorised individuals remain a matter of concern," said IMB director Captain Pottengal Mukundan. "We have also seen for the first time ships being attacked simultaneously by a number of small pirate boats, firing weapons at the bridge of the vessel."

Indonesia continued to record the highest number of attacks with 121 reported incidents, Bangladesh ranked second highest with 58 attacks and Nigeria was third with 39 attacks. Attacks in Nigeria almost tripled compared with 2002 and the country is now regarded as the most dangerous area in Africa for piracy and armed robbery at sea, the report said.

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AFP
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/28/1075088070756.html

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and the all the way up to china has been historically notorious for piracy for years and years and years. The worst in the world - probably more so now because there has been much more political instability in general allowing the underworld to thrive. A friend of my dad's barely escaped pirates in the 50's - there were bullet holes through the hull of the boat and all. Another friend was a cargo ship captain and they had problems all the time in those areas. Some of the stories were really scary.

Very dry, desert land.