'Piracy on high seas becomes a major threat'

'Piracy on high seas becomes a major threat'

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Indonesian ports, East African waters and the triangle between Hong Kong, Luzon in the Philippines and Hainan in China are becoming hotbeds for piracy, which is increasing worldwide, a top maritime official said yesterday.

"Piracy cases appear headed for a sharp increase this year, based on the reported incidents in the first five months," John Martin, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)'s Kuala Lumpur- based regional manager, told AFP.

Martin said the surge in piracy attacks had raised IMB's concern about the possibility of environmental disasters if pirate-occupied oil or gas tankers were involved in collisions on the high seas.

His remarks followed last week's alleged hijacking by renegade Chinese troops of a Panama-flagged freighter, Hye Mieko, in the South China Sea, which the owner reported on Wednesday had reached the southern Chinese port of Shanwei.

"We are relieved to hear that the vessel's 14 crew members are safe," Martin said, while declining comment on the alleged involvement of Chinese troops, pending a full report from the owners.

Maritime officials said the Hye Mieko was the 70th vessel to be hijacked in the first six months of this year. Last year, there were 103 known pirate attacks.

Data collated by the IMB in the first five months of this year logged a total of 58 incidents compared with 40 in the same period last year, Martin said.

Attacks

"Seventeen of the cases were reported in harbors and ports in Indonesia, while nine were off Somalia and seven in the Hong Kong-Luzon-Hainan triangle, " Martin said.

There were five attacks off Brazil, four off Iran, three off the Philippines, two each in the South China Sea, Djibouti, Malaysia and China, and one each in Tanzania, Cambodia, Algeria, Turkey and Denmark.

IMB, set up by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce to monitor piracy, last month expressed concern for ships passing through Somalia's coastal waters following two incidents in the last two months involving a British yacht, the Longo Barda, and a Bulgarian vessel.

There were also ten reports of attempted boardings. Longo Barda was chased by a pirate boat and fired on with mortar shells, but the attack was foiled when a Canadian warship and a container vessel went to its aid.

On May 3, the Bulgarian-registered bulk carrier, the Liliana Dimitrova was shot at by a pirate boat in the Gulf of Aden. One crew member was wounded.

Martin said that pirates appear to have no particular targets as all types of vessels have been victims.

Of the 58 cases, 12 were general cargo carriers, seven containers, five tankers, four tugs and the rest various types of vessels.

The London-based IMB opened its office in Kuala Lumpur in 1991 and a year later commissioned a regional piracy center to help collate and collect data on pirate attacks for the benefit of the shipping industry.