Somali piracy has fallen to a three-year low because of co-ordinated action by international navies and the enlistment of armed security guards.
A maritime watchdog has warned ships to steer clear of Nigerian waters due to a trio of recent piracy attacks including an assault still underway.
A spate of ship hijackings off West Africa indicates the region could emerge as a new piracy "hotspot", a global maritime watchdog has warned.
Pirates kidnapped a record number of seafarers in 2010 in an "alarming" escalation of the crisis centred on Somalia, a maritime watchdog says.
Pirate attacks worldwide more than doubled in the first half of 2009, amid a surge of raids in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia.
Pirates seized a British-owned ship and a Taiwan-registered fishing boat after taking three vessels last weekend, officials said on Tuesday.
Pirates were taking two European-owned tankers to Somali coastal havens on Friday and are likely to demand ransoms soon.
Heavily armed Somali pirates attacked six ships earlier this week but all managed to escape, a global maritime watchdog said on Friday.
Pirates have hijacked a Turkish cargo ship and a Malaysian tug boat and attacked three other vessels in the Gulf of Aden in the past week.
Somali pirates who hijacked Saudi oil supertanker Sirius Star on Thursday demanded -million in ransom and set a 10-day deadline.
Egypt has called an urgent meeting of Arab countries bordering the Red Sea to combat piracy off Somalia, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
India has deployed its navy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia to protect Indian commercial vessels from pirates, news reports said on Friday.
Somali pirates hijacked a Philippines-managed bulk carrier with 21 sailors aboard on Wednesday, a maritime watchdog said.
Somali pirates attacked four ships in what a maritime piracy watchdog said on Friday was a ”critical level” of attacks in the Gulf of Aden.
The increase in piracy in the Gulf of Aden could trigger a humanitarian and environmental disaster in the Horn of Africa, a report warns.
Linking the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden is one of the world’s most important trading routes. It is also the most feared.
Rapidly spreading lawlessness as Somalia collapses in the worst fighting for two nearly decades is fuelling a wave of piracy.
Two vessels have been seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau said on Thursday.
Africa remains a piracy hot spot following a spike in attacks in the second quarter of 2008, a marine watchdog said on Friday.
One of the two cargo freighters hijacked off the Somali coast this week was a German owned vessel registered in Gibraltar, a Kenyan maritime official said Friday. The MV Lehmann…
