28-01-04 Pirates have started using a new tactic to board merchant ships at sea and such attacks are getting deadlier, the London-based International Maritime Bureau warned in its report on the piracy situation worldwide in 2003. The report cautioned that pirates have resorted to using several small but fast boats to attack a ship while simultaneously firing at the bridge.
The bureau listed 445 cases of piracy last year, up from the 370 cases reported in 2002. Tankers are a favoured target for the new style of attacks and some 23 % of pirate attacks last year were made on these lumbering vessels. In one recent incident, an oil tanker nearing the Singapore Straits sailed unmanned for nearly an hour after armed pirates tied up the crew and looted items from the ship.

The new tactic of surrounding slow-moving ships while firing at them to force them to stop also drew blood. The bureau's census showed that 21 sailors were killed last year, with 40 assaulted and 88 injured. This was an increase from 10 killed, 9 assaulted and 38 injured in 2002. Attacks involving guns rose to 100 from 68 in 2000.
No pirate attacks took place in Singapore waters last year but the sea lanes between Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia were described as “piracy prone”. Attacks in the Malacca Straits jumped to 28 last year from 16 in 2002. Waters off Indonesia and Bangladesh are also hot spots.

Commenting on the findings, Captain Pottengal Mukundan, a bureau director, noted: “Ships are also hijacked in order to abduct the crew for ransom. These kidnappings are believed to be largely the work of militia groups in politically vulnerable areas.”
Incidents of sailors taken hostage “nearly doubled” to 359 from the previous year. Mr Roger F. Carver, 61, managing director of security company Nemesis Maritime, said the report might not tell the full story and the situation might be worse.
He said: “Sailors don't report all incidents for various reasons. Either they were chased and nothing happened, or they could be worried the ship's insurers would bump up the insurance.”