A report issued on Friday by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) says some 440 ships have been hijacked off the coasts of Somalia since the organization started to collect relevant statistics in 1984. The report explains that this year alone more than 120 attacks were carried out. Pirates have so far been able to take over more than 35 ships and detain more than 600 sailors before releasing them after negotiations and the payment of a ransom. According to the report, 14 ships and some 280 sailors are still in pirates' hands, while two of these sailors have been killed. The report also adds that 12% of the world's oil is carried through this region before crossing the Suez Canal. The IMO explains that pirates take over ships in two ways. They may attack them in open sea, often many miles away from the shore. The Sirius Star, for instance, was hijacked in the Indian Ocean 450 miles away from the Kenyan coasts. Otherwise, pirates hijack a ship in Somali territorial waters. IMO Secretary General Metropolis urged concerned countries to take actively part in the fight against piracy off the Somali coasts and in the Gulf of Aden. He also called on the UN Security Council to protect sailors, fishermen and passengers passing there, to guarantee the arrival of humanitarian aid to Somalia through ships rented by the World Food Program (WFP), and to preserve maritime transportation across the Gulf of Aden, given its strategic importance and the significance of maritime transportation and trade across the Suez Canal.
