According to International Maritime Bureau statistics
Merchant navy captain Sunil James may have returned home after five-and-a-half-months in Togo but International Chamber of Commerce’sInternational Maritime Bureau (London) statistics show how waters around the Indian sub-continent are the most dangerous.
James and two Indian crew members were arrested by the Togo police on July 31 on charges of helping pirates who had attacked and looted their Marshalls Island flag vessel, MT Ocean Centurion, around 45 nautical miles southeast of Togo’s coastal capital Lome in the Atlantic Ocean on July 16. James, however, said the court there was unable to prove their roles.
According to the Times of India the bureau has reported 199 pirate attacks on vessels in the sub-continent’s waters in 2006-12. It warned mariners to be extra cautious when transiting from Southeast Asia and the sub-continent (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malacca Straits, Singapore Straits and South China sea), Africa and Red Sea (Africa, Gulf of Aden/Red Sea, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Guinea, The Congo and Egypt), South and Central America and the Caribbean waters (Ecuador) and Rest of the World (Gulf of Oman).
The bureau’s 2012 report stated that 2,386 ships from over 97 countries in the merchant shipping business were attacked (2006-12). The seas and oceans around Africa top the chart with 1,228 cases, and Indian waters come third after Southeast Asian waters.
Somali pirate attacks cover a vast area, which includes the Gulf of Aden, southern Red Sea, off Yemen, off Oman/ Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, off Somalia, off Kenya, off Tanzania, off Seychelles, off Madagascar, Indian Ocean, off West and South India and off Maldives west coast, the report said. “Even though there is a welcome drop in Somali piracy, the IMB piracy reporting centre continues to monitor the situation and advises vessels to remain vigilant and adhere to latest best management practices, especially as the threat and risk of an attack remains real,” the report said.
