Pirates attacked more ships and grew more violent last year, and seafarers will remain in peril unless countries such as Indonesia patrol their waters more stringently, a maritime watchdog agency said.
The shipping industry suffered 445 attacks last year, up 20 percent from 2002 with 370 cases, the British-based International Maritime Bureau said in a report released last week by its piracy watch center in Kuala Lumpur.
Violence on the high seas also mounted, as pirates worldwide were increasingly armed with guns and killed 21 people last year, more than doubling the 10 deaths in 2002. The worst-hit countries were the Philippines, which reported nine casualties, Bangladesh, with seven deaths, and Indonesia with two.
However, 71 crew members also went missing during various attacks last year, and this figure "should be considered along with the 21 confirmed killed," the Maritime Bureau's report said.
Indonesia accounted for 121 attacks across its sprawling archipelago, more than a quarter of the worldwide total. Also badly hit were Bangladesh with 58 attacks, Nigeria with 39 and India, which reported 27 cases.
"Unless Indonesia takes serious steps to police its waters, we don't foresee any drop in the number of attacks worldwide," said Noel Choong, head of the piracy reporting center.
Many of Indonesia's attacks were robberies and kidnappings for ransom, though authorities have been mystified recently by an "abnormal trend" of pirates who hijack tugboats and barges for unknown purposes, Choong said.
"We have no idea where the boats have been taken and what they're being used for," Choong said, speculating that the vessels might have ended up with Indonesian crime syndicates for smuggling activities.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks using commercial airliners, the center warned that ships such as tankers carrying explosive natural gas could be hijacked and used as weapons.
So far, those fears haven't been borne out but the threat persists, Choong said.
While port security in many places has been upgraded, the bureau warns that no shipboard response can protect seafarers from terrorist assaults.
Choong said that the Maritime Bureau had no specific information about terrorist threats.
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