'Disturbing' Rise In Pirate Attacks
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...,00.html?f=rss
Updated: 11:40, Sunday August 19, 2007
Britain is being urged to do more to tackle the problem of pirates after they carried out a record number of violent attacks.
In the first six months of this year, there were 238 attacks against seafarers, compared with 198 in the same period in 2006 and 48 in 2005.
Thirteen vessels were hijacked worldwide by heavily-armed gunmen, 152 crew members taken hostage, 20 assaulted and three killed.
A shipping union is now seeking urgent talks with the Foreign Office about how to clamp down on the problem.
One of the most dangerous areas is off the coast of Somalia in east Africa where there were 17 cases of piracy this year.
In November 2005, armed pirates attacked the cruise liner Seabourn Spirit in the region.
The vessel, whose passengers included 20 Britons, managed to fight off the pirates.
The ships' officers' union Nautilus is calling for naval protection for merchant ships in the most dangerous areas.
It also wants the security of merchant shipping to be discussed by Britain during bilateral or multilateral trade talks with other countries.
Brian Orrell, Nautilus general secretary, has written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband calling the statistics "disturbing".
Mr Orrell said: "Some 95% of world trade goes by sea, and the attacks on shipping represent a very real threat to established principles of navigational freedom."
The International Martitime Board said there was a strong case for naval protection off Somalia. There have also been a number of attacks this year off Nigeria.
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Originally Posted by werther
