Piracy attained an all-time high in the first quarter of the year, with 142 attacks reported worldwide, according to a new report.
The International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) global piracy report says the sharp rise was driven by a surge in incidents off the coast of Somalia, where 97 attacks were recorded in the first three months, compared with 35 in the same period last year.
Worldwide, during the first three months of 2011, pirates murdered seven crew members and injured 34. Eighteen vessels were hijacked and 344 crew members taken hostage, with a further 45 vessels boarded and 45 more were fired upon.
Capt Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB said: “Figures for piracy and armed robbery at sea in the past three months are higher than we’ve ever recorded in the first quarter of any year.”
The IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre has monitored piracy worldwide since 1991.
The east coast of Somalia, in and around the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden are the areas with the most reported hijackings and hostages taken, says the report.
In these areas, 299 people were taken as hostage with their vessels and a further six were kidnapped and taken from their ships. On 31 March, IMB figures showed Somali pirates holding captive 596 crew members and 28 ships.
“We’re seeing a dramatic increase in the violence and techniques used by pirates in the seas off Somalia,” said Mukundan.
“The overwhelming number of vessels hijacked off Somalia took place east and north east of the Gulf of Aden. The positions of some of the attackers’ motherships are known and it is vital that strong action is taken against them to prevent further hijackings.”
A number of countries are deploying naval ships to patrol high-risk areas. In a recent show of force, the Indian navy captured 61 Somali pirates on a hijacked ship off India’s west coast.
Source: IFW
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