Pirate attacks worldwide has witnessed a sharp decline in the first half of 2012 as international naval efforts played a key role in "frustrating" the menace posed by Somali pirates, a global maritime watchdog said on Monday.
All 23 Indian sailors aboard an oil tanker were safe on Wednesday after the Nigerian navy rescued their vessel that was hijacked briefly by pirates off the coast of southern Nigeria.
In the third such attack in over two weeks in the Gulf of Guinea, the Singapore-owned vessel, MT Abu Dhabi Star, was taken over by pirates on Tuesday night when it was sailing towards the open sea.
Pirates are holding 45 crew members, including Indians after they seized a UK-flagged chemical tanker and a Panamanian carrier off the piracy infested Somalia's coast, a top official of the maritime watchdog said in Kuala Lumpur.
At least 24 Indians were taken hostage by Somali pirates, who hjacked an Indian-managed and Panamanian-flagged ship near Seychelles on Thursday, officials said.
Swift intervention by a Malaysian naval helicopter on Thursday saved an Indian vessel from a hijack bid by armed pirates dressed in military attire in the Gulf of Aden region, off Somalia.
A suspected pirate vessel that was destroyed by India's INS Tabar last week in the Gulf of Aden was in fact a Thai fishing trawler which had been hijacked, a maritime bureau confirmed today.
Armed Somali men, helping out coast-guards in the African waters, have managed to free an Indian cargo ship with 13 sailors on board, after it was hijacked by pirates off the northern coast of Somalia.
'Because there's a very effective Coast Guard,' says maritime piracy expert Jayant Abhyankar.
A cargo ship missing for a week with 14 crew members, including Indians, is feared to have been hijacked in the piracy-prone South China Sea, prompting Malaysian maritime authorities to launch a search on Thursday.
The government has asked Indian ships sailing in the Malacca Strait and South East Asia to be 'extra cautious' and take necessary security steps in view of rising incidents of hijacking and robbery
A Turkish oil-chemical tanker with an all Indian crew of 24 has been hijacked by pirates off the coast of the West African nation Gabon.
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