Piracy hit an all-time high in the first three months of 2011, with 142 attacks worldwide, driven mainly by raids off the lawless Somali coast, a maritime watchdog said Thursday.
A total of 97 attacks were recorded off Somalia in the first quarter, up from 35 in the same period last year, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in a report.
Worldwide, marauding sea bandits' hijacked 18 vessels and took 344 crew members as hostage, and kidnapped six seafarers from their boats. A further 45 vessels were boarded, and 45 more reported being fired upon.
"Figures for piracy and armed robbery at sea in the past three months are higher than we've ever recorded in the first quarter of any past year," said Pottengal Mukundan, director of the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre, which has monitored incidents worldwide since 1991.
Mukundan said in the first three months of the year, pirates killed seven crew and wounded 34. Just two injuries were reported in the first quarter of 2006.
Of the 18 sh
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