Worldwide pirate attacks hit record high | AP [View All]

[Ediacara]

Worldwide pirate attacks hit record high

By SEAN YOONG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Pirate attacks worldwide hit record numbers in the first half of 2003 with the heaviest violence in the waters of Indonesia and Bangladesh, a maritime watchdog group said Thursday.

The shipping industry suffered 234 attacks from January through June this year, up 37 percent compared with 171 incidents during the same period in 2002, the International Maritime Bureau said in a report released by its Kuala Lumpur-based piracy watch center.

This was the first time in more than a decade of the bureau's record-keeping that more than 200 pirate attacks were recorded in the first six months of any year.

Indonesia's waters remained the world's most dangerous. The sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago suffered 64 attacks in six months, far outstripping the next worst - Bangladesh with 23 attacks. India and Nigeria followed with 18 each.

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