Piracy at all time high, says maritime watchdog

Piracy at sea hit an all-time high in the first quarter of this year with 142 attacks reported worldwide, a bulk of them off the coast of Somalia where a sharp rise was witnessed in the crime, a maritime watchdog said in its global report today.

The International Maritime Bureau said that the figures for piracy attacks and armed robbery at sea recorded this year were the highest in the first quarter of any past year.

IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) is the only manned centre to receive reports of pirate attacks 24 hours a day from across the globe.

The sharp rise was driven by a surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia, where 97 attacks were recorded in the first three months of the year, up from 35 in the same period last year, Captain Potengal Mukundan, Director of IMB said, noting with concern that there was a dramatic increase in violence and techniques used by the pirates in the waters off Somalia.

Mukundan said the IMB commended the Indian navy for capturing 61 Somali pirates on a hijacked ship off India's west coast and noted that several countries were now using their navies to take a tough stance against piracy.

Worldwide in the first quarter of 2011, 18 vessels were hijacked, 344 crew members were taken hostage, and six were kidnapped, IMB reported.

A further 45 vessels were boarded, and 45 more reported being fired upon.

"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 past year," said Mukundan, whose Piracy Reporting Centre here has monitored piracy worldwide since 1991.

In the first three months of 2011, pirates murdered seven crew members and injured 34. Just two injuries were reported in the first quarter of 2006.

Of the 18 ships hijacked worldwide in the first three months, 15 were captured off the east coast of Somalia, in and around the Arabian Sea and one in the Gulf of Aden.

In this area alone, 299 people were taken hostage and a further six were kidnapped from their vessel.

At the last count on March 31, IMB figures showed that Somali pirates were holding captive 596 crew members on 28 ships, Mukundan said in a statement.

"We're seeing a dramatic increase in the violence and techniques used by pirates in the seas off Somalia.

"The overwhelming number of vessels hijacked off Somalia took place east and north east of Gulf of Aden," he said.

He said the positions of some of the attackers' mother ships were known and it was vital that strong action is taken against these mother ships to prevent further hijackings.