Pirate attacks soar worldwide Posted by Scott Manning on May 09, 2002 | Comments (0)

Pirate attacks surged worldwide in the first three months of 2002, with Africa rivaling Southeast Asia for the first time as a high-risk region. Also, the shipping industry is adopting new security measures amid fears that ships could become "weapons in a terrorist war" following the September 11 terror attacks, the International Maritime Bureau's piracy monitoring centre has warned.

Indonesian waters remained the world's most pirate-infested, with 22 of 87 attacks reported worldwide from January through March, the Kuala Lumpur-based centre said in its quarterly report. But African countries had 32 attacks -- the continent's highest level in a three-month period since the monitoring centre began compiling statistics in 1991. Full Story...Related Site:
The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre