Sea piracy at record levels
According to a new report, piracy has ticked up sharply:
Nearly 70 per cent or 97 of the attacks occurred off the coast of Somalia, up sharply from 35 in the same period last year, the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur said in a statement.Attackers seized 18 vessels worldwide, including three big tankers, in the January-March period and captured 344 crew members, it said. Pirates also murdered seven crew members and injured 34 during the quarter.
â??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,â? said the bureau's director Pottengal Mukundan.
