Fewer pirate attacks worldwide

Pirate attacks worldwide in the first nine months of 2004 dropped to their lowest levels in five years, helped by declines in hotspots such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nigeria, a maritime group said today.

Seafarers suffered 251 attacks globally between January and September, a 27% drop from the 344 attacks in the same period of 2003, the British-based International Maritime Bureau said in a report released by its Piracy Watch Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The figure was the lowest for this period since 1999, when 180 attacks occurred worldwide.

However, the IMB warned law enforcement authorities against becoming complacent.

“We welcome the marked decrease in some numbers, but it’s hard to determine whether the piracy situation is really improving,” said Noel Choong, head of the piracy watch centre.

Choong noted that attacks sometimes spike in the last quarter of each year, often because countries lag in reporting earlier incidents.

Indonesia remained the most pirate-plagued nation, accounting for a quarter of the global total. But the 70 attacks it recorded during the first nine months of this year WERE down from 87 in the same period last year.

Many other nations also reported significant decreases during the period. Attacks in Bangladesh plunged to 15 from 37, India to 10 from 24, Nigeria to 18 from 28, Venezuela to six from 11, the Philippines to three from 12 and Vietnam to three from 10.

The number of attacks in the Malacca Straits, a key shipping lane that straddles Indonesia’s Sumatra island and peninsular Malaysia, was nearly unchanged at 25, compared with 24 in the straits from January-September 2003.

A few other areas grew more perilous. There were eight attacks in the Singapore Straits and another eight in South China Sea, compared to none in both territories last year.

Casualties worldwide remained high. Thirty crew members were killed in the first nine months of 2004, compared to 20 at this point last year. Half the deaths occurred in Nigerian waters, where pirates armed with automatic weapons have preyed on commercial ships and passenger ferries.