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Sea piracy attacks on the rise
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BBC
World News
Wednesday,
24 July, 2002, 07:53 GMT 08:53 UK
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Sea piracy attacks on the rise
Indonesia has the most dangerous
waters for international shipping, a global watchdog has reported.
There were 44 pirate attacks in
Indonesian waters and nine more in the nearby Strait of Malacca,
accounting for nearly one-third of the 171 incidents recorded by
the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in the first six months of
this year.
Attacks around the world have risen
by 3.6% compared with the same period in 2001 with India,
Bangladesh and the southern part of the Red Sea being named as
other hotspots.
Captains were also warned to stay
at least 100 miles off the coast of Somalia amid lawlessness which
has turned the risk of pirate attack by armed militia "from
one of possibility to certainty", according to the bureau's
Piracy Reporting Centre.
Sailors killed
In the first six months of 2002,
six crew members were killed in attacks worldwide - four of them
in Indonesian waters, said a report from the centre, which is
based in Kuala Lumpur.
Another 21 people were injured and
23 crew members are listed as missing.
Most pirate attacks are robberies
of cargo, the contents of ships' safes or crew members belongings.
But in the January-June period, 14
vessels had been hijacked to extort money from owners for the
return of the vessel and crew - two more than in the same period
last year, the report said.
Crude methods
Pirates' methods remained generally
crude, with knives being the weapons of choice in 57 of the
attacks and guns in 31.
Indonesia's 44 attacks were the
same number as in the first six months of 2001.
Incidents fell slightly in India -
from 13 to 12 - and Bangladesh - from 15 to 11.
The IMB said increased numbers of
sea patrols had helped, though the waters remained dangerous.
Outside Asia, the worst-affected
country was Nigeria with eight acts of piracy, compared with six
from January to June 2001.
Most of the attacks took place on
the open seas, but near Somalia there was also danger closer to
land from armed militia groups.
"Armed pirates in speedboats
and gunboats open fire on ships and rob or hijack them," the
piracy centre said.
"Any vessel which slows down
or stops close to the Somali coast will be boarded by these gangs
who have so far been successful in extorting substantial sums from
owners for the return of the vessel and the crew," it added.
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