Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Global pirate attacks on the increase

The first nine months of this year has seen more pirate attacks than all of last year. And more than half of those attacks were carried out by suspected Somali pirates, an international maritime watchdog group said Wednesday. "The increased activity in Somalia is the major reason for the spike," said Cyrus Mody, manager of the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors shipping crimes. From January 1 until September 30, pirates worldwide mounted 306 attacks, compared with 293 in all of 2008, the Bureau said.

Of the incidents this year, Somali pirates accounted for 54 percent: they launched 168 attacks. Most of them took place off the east coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, a major shipping route between Yemen and Somalia. They successfully hijacked 32 vessels and took 533 hostages. Eight others were wounded, four more killed and one is missing, the Bureau said. Somali pirates are still holding four ships for ransom with 80 crew members as hostages.

0 comments:

Followers

Search This Blog

Who am I?

I am a law enforcement professional with over 35 years experience in both sworn and civilian positions. I have service in 3 different countries in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

My principal areas of expertise are: (1) Intelligence, (2) Training and Development, (3) Knowledge Management, and (4) Administration/Supervision.

  © Blogger templates The Professional Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP