Pirates prepared to take more risks to seize ships
Global Times | 2011-7-15 5:06:00
By AFP
Attacks on the world's seas are soaring as armed and dangerous pirates become increasingly emboldened, seizing more ships than before and taking even bigger risks, an international body said Thursday.
In the first six months of 2011, there were 266 piracy attacks compared with 196 incidents over the same period last year, and 60 percent of them were carried out by Somali pirates, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said.
At the end of June, Somali pirates were still holding 20 vessels and 420 crew, and demanding millions of dollars for their release, the IMB's piracy reporting center said.
IMB director Pottengal Mukundan warned ship owners and captains to be on their guard as pirates are using new methods and even carrying out attacks in bad weather.
Five years ago, pirates were more often armed with knives. But now ships, including oil and chemical tankers, are being attacked with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade launchers, the report said.
The report said many of the attacks were concentrated in the Gulf of Aden, which is criss-crossed by oil tankers.
Fourteen ships had been attacked in the South Red Sea since May 20.
And although Somali pirates were more active with 163 attacks this year up from 100 in the first half of 2010, they had been less successful in actually hijacking ships thanks to the vigilance of international naval forces.
They only managed to capture 21 vessels in the first half of 2011, compared with 27 in the same period last year.
