KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30: Pirate attacks on seafarers worldwide hit a new high in the first nine months of the year and Indonesia accounted for 25 per cent of the total, possibly due to the separatist violence in Aceh province, a maritime watchdog said.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said 344 attacks or attempted attacks on ships at sea, at anchor or in port were reported globally — compared to 271 in 2002 and 253 in 2001.

“This is the highest number of attacks for the first nine months of any year since the IMB began compiling statistics in 1991,” Pottengal Mukundan, London-based IMB director said in a statement.

“There is a clear increase in the use of guns and knives in the attacks,” he added.

The number of crew killed increased to 20 as compared to six in 2002. The number of attacks using guns rose to 77 from 49, the London-based IMB said in a report by its Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Some 43 crew members are listed as missing.

Indonesian waters were the most pirate-prone with 87 incidents in which 85 seafarers were taken hostage and two killed.

Bangladesh was ranked second for piracy with 37 attacks, Nigeria third with 28, while the busy Malacca Straits saw 24 attacks.—AFP