THE number of maritime kidnappings hit a 10-year high in 2016, with waters off the southern Philippines becoming increasingly dangerous, the International Maritime Bureau said yesterday.
While the overall number of pirate attacks has fallen recently, the IMB said 62 people worldwide were kidnapped for ransom at sea last year compared to only 19 in 2015 and nine in 2014.
“The kidnapping of crew from ocean-going merchant vessels in the Sulu Sea and their transfer to the southern Philippines represents a notable escalation in attacks,” the IMB said in a report.
It urged shipowners to avoid the Sulu Sea, which lies between eastern Malaysia and the Philippines by routing ships to the west of Borneo island.
In a string of incidents in the Sulu Sea last year, groups of armed men — said to be either from or linked to the Abu Sayyaf — ambushed ships and seized crew for ransom.
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