A British couple kidnapped from their yacht in October by pirates pleaded for their life in a video broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 Friday, warning that their captors were running out of patience and could kill them if no ransom is paid.
Naval forces from several countries were searching Tuesday for a British couple and their missing yacht, which may have been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Africa, military sources told CNN.
Pirates seized control of a cargo vessel near the Seychelles Thursday, one of two attacks that took place within minutes of each other off the coast of east Africa, according to the European Union Naval Force.
The first nine months of this year has seen more pirate attacks than all of last year. And more than half of those attacks were carried out by suspected Somali pirates, an international maritime watchdog group said Wednesday.
China plans to make "every effort to rescue" a merchant ship and crew hijacked in the Indian Ocean, the country's state news agency reported on Tuesday.
Thirty-four fishermen are free four months after the two Egyptian vessels they were on were hijacked off the coast of Somalia, an Egyptian official said Friday.
A British couple kidnapped from their yacht in October by pirates pleaded for their life in a video broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 Friday, warning that their captors were running out of patience and could kill them if no ransom is paid.
Naval forces from several countries were searching Tuesday for a British couple and their missing yacht, which may have been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Africa, military sources told CNN.
Pirates seized control of a cargo vessel near the Seychelles Thursday, one of two attacks that took place within minutes of each other off the coast of east Africa, according to the European Union Naval Force.
The first nine months of this year has seen more pirate attacks than all of last year. And more than half of those attacks were carried out by suspected Somali pirates, an international maritime watchdog group said Wednesday.
China plans to make "every effort to rescue" a merchant ship and crew hijacked in the Indian Ocean, the country's state news agency reported on Tuesday.
Thirty-four fishermen are free four months after the two Egyptian vessels they were on were hijacked off the coast of Somalia, an Egyptian official said Friday.
South Korean and American warships stopped a suspected pirate attack on an Egyptian ship in the Gulf of Aden, capturing 17 suspected pirates, the U.S. Navy announced Thursday.
Both the United States and France pulled off-high profile rescues in the waters off the Horn of Africa in the past week, killing a total of five pirates to free hostages who had been holed up for days.
Two Japanese destroyers set sail Saturday on an anti-piracy mission off Somalia, the Japanese defense ministry said, marking the first policing action for the country's Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Incident details: "Armed pirates chased, boarded and hijacked a fishing trawler underway" southeast of Mogadishu, Somalia. "Several persons armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machetes attempting to climb onboard with use of rope" at Lagos anchorage, Nigeria.
More than 1,000 British tourists on a round-the-world cruise were ushered to safety amid fears their ship was being followed by pirates, a travel company said Thursday.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia rose nearly 200 percent in 2008 compared to the year before, with bolder attacks over greater distances, an international piracy monitor said Friday.
A Russian naval ship rescued a Dutch container vessel under attack by suspected Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, the head of the International Maritime Bureau said Wednesday.
One of the pirates who held a Saudi oil supertanker off Somalia before releasing it for ransom has told CNN how five in his group drowned when the boat in which they left the ship capsized as they tried to evade rival pirates seeking a cut of the money.
Somalia-based pirates on Tuesday released a Turkish-flagged ship carrying 4,500 tons of chemicals that was seized two months ago off Yemen's coast, the International Maritime Bureau told CNN.
The U.S. Navy has started a force to battle pirates attacking ships in and near the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's coast, the U.S. Fifth Fleet said Thursday.
Japan is considering joining an international effort to protect ships from a growing threat of piracy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia, a top official told reporters.
A group of Iranian warships steamed into the Gulf of Aden, joining an expanding list of navies sent to protect shipping routes from Somali pirates, state-run media reported Saturday.
The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Tuesday aimed at combating piracy along the Horn of Africa by allowing military forces to chase pirates onto land in cases of "hot pursuit."
The Indian navy captured 23 piracy suspects who tried to take over a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, Indian officials said.
The trial of eight Somali men accused of piracy in the attempted hijacking of a Danish freighter has been put off until January after a preliminary session Thursday.
The United States is circulating a proposal that could allow military forces to enter Somali territory in "hot pursuit" of pirates, sources on the U.N. Security Council said Wednesday.
The European Union will launch its first naval operation Tuesday, protecting vessels from pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia, EU policy chief Javier Solana announced Monday.
A German cruise liner said Tuesday it plans to fly its passengers over the Gulf of Aden, instead of sailing them through, out of fear of pirate attacks in the region.
Somalis are so desperate to survive that attacks on merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean will not stop, a pirate leader promises.
Three British guards jumped overboard and were rescued from the water after battling in vain to prevent pirates hijacking a chemical tanker off the coast of Somalia.
Fourteen sailors are still missing from a Thai trawler that was sunk last week by the Indian navy as a suspected pirate ship, the vessel's owner said Tuesday.
Eight yachts competing in the Volvo Ocean Race round-the-world event will be kept closely briefed on piracy threats and monitored by warships as they approach the troubled waters of the Arabian Sea.
Armed pirates have hijacked a Philippines chemical tanker off the coast of Somalia, but Indian forces thwarted an attack on one of its vessels, authorities said Tuesday.
It's been a busy, profitable week for Somali pirates: They hijacked one South Korean bulk carrier Wednesday, released another South Korean cargo ship Thursday and let a hijacked Thai ship go Saturday
They adorn movie screens and children's books as popular villains, but, on the high seas modern-day real-life pirates are vicious, deadly and "totally out of control".
Pirates hijacked three ships off the coast of Somalia on Thursday in the "worst number of attacks" in one day in many years, an international maritime watchdog said.
Armed pirates hijacked three ships off the coast of Somalia in a series of attacks Thursday, an international maritime body said, as it urged the U.N. to restore law and order to the notorious African waters
Colin Darch was piloting his slow-moving tugboat out of the Red Sea close to Somalia when heavily armed pirates sped up next to him screaming and firing weapons.
A French yacht. A Japanese tanker. A Spanish fishing boat. After several years of decline, pirates are striking with increasing frequency on the high seas.
French troops are holding six pirates after the 30-member crew of a luxury yacht hijacked a week ago off Somalia's coast were released, officials said Friday.
A French navy vessel is in pursuit of a luxury yacht which pirates seized off the coast of Somalia a day earlier, the French Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
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