More than 50 seafarers were killed in increasingly violent pirate
attacks on ships around the world last year, a report released Monday
said. In its annual report on piracy, the International Maritime
Bureau said there were 229 attacks on ships at sea or at anchor in
1997, a similar figure to that the previous year. But the body said
their figures showed pirates carried guns on 68 occasions last year,
up from 32 times in 1996, and that 51 seafarers were killed compared
with a previous 26. Six countries shared more than half the attacks -
Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India.
See
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