Pirates armed with automatic weapons and RPG chased and fired on a container ship, starting a fire, but failed to board the ship.

Nov 10

Two speedboats approached a refrigerated cargo ship and the pirates opened fire. Ship made evasive manoeuvres causing waves—the speedboats couldn’t get closer.

PirAcy Hotbeds

While the Malacca Straits and Indonesia were once the primary piracy hotbeds in the world—70 of the 251 attacks in 2004 took place in the region—the Gulf of Aden and Somalia’s coast are now the world's most dangerous waters.

• 199 incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre this year. Pirates got on board 115 vessels, attacked another 31 and fired upon 23 vessels. About 581 crewmembers were taken hostage, nine kidnapped, nine killed, seven missing.

• 63 incidents reported in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia till September this year. Between July and September, Somali pirates hijacked 26 vessels, taking 537 crew-members hostage. Somali pirates fired upon 21 vessels. Of the 63 reported incidents in the region, 51 were in the Gulf of Aden and 12 off the east coast of Somalia.

• Nigeria is second on the list with 24 reported incidents, at least 20 of which occurred in Lagos.

• Indonesia ranked third in piracy activity with 23 reported incidents. The former hotspot in the Malacca straits has been reduced to just two incidents.