Somali piracy gets more violent

Maritime officials say there has been a big increase in the number of hostages killed and injured by Somali pirates. In a new report, the International Maritime Bureau and One Earth Future organisation say that although the number of successful hijackings has gone down over the past year, Somali piracy has become more violent. Mary Harper reports for the BBC:

The report describes as significant the increase in hostage deaths last year. 35 people died - that's 3% of all hostages taken. Most were killed during rescue operations, a sign that the increasingly robust way of dealing with pirates makes life more dangerous for the hostages. Others died from malnutrition or disease. It used to be rare for a captive to die. For the pirates, who are principally interested in ransom payments, they were worth more alive than dead.

The report describes the often brutal treatment of crew members. Last year nearly 4,000 seafarers were fired upon by Somali pirates. Half of all hostages were subjected to what the report describes as moderate abuse including punching and slapping. 10% suffered violent abuse such as being locked in freezers, burned with cigarettes and having their fingernails pulled out with pliers.

The report also says that last year there was a 50% increase in the length of time people are kept hostage - it's now an average of eight months. Some have been kept for more than two years, such as the crew of the Panama-flagged MV Iceberg who have been held hostage since March 2010. The report says the ship's owner has gone out of business so
there is nobody to negotiate the crew's release. The Director of the International Maritime Bureau, said that although a lot of attention is given to Somali piracy, the human cost on seafarers and their families is often ignored. The number of prisoners taken by pirates fell to 555, at least, in 2011 from 645 in 2010, the report by the U.S.-based One Earth Future foundation and International Maritime Bureau said. At least 149 hostages had now been held for more than a year, the report said, with 26 held for more than two years. Many of those released reported abuse including beatings, removal of fingernails and dumping in the sea. More than 40 percent said that at some stage they had been used as human shields, often when pirates sailed captured vessels back out to sea to act as mother ships for new attacks. Most hostages were from developing countries, particularly the Philippines, India and China as well as Gulf and African states.

Vocabulary: significant - sufficiently great or important to be worthy of attention robust - strong and vigorous malnutrition - lack of proper nutrition captive - prisoner principally - for the most part / mainly brutal - extremely violent seafarers - people who work as sailors subjected to - suffered from crew - people working on the ship negotiate - try to reach an agreement for (the crew's release)