Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water

A French triple-masted, 288-foot yacht (picture above) is the latest victim of piracy off the lawless coast of Somalia. Pirates captured the ship, with its crew of 30, in the Gulf of Aden. While I'm tempted to make some joke about hoping the pirates are having fun, given that they now control a four-deck luxury cruise ship in sun-drenched waters, this is clearly no laughing matter. This hostage drama could end peacefully, or in a hail of gunfire with people getting killed.

This hijacking at sea continues the trend I mentioned earlier of increasing levels of piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia.

Piracy Marches On

Pirate attacks were up by 10 percent worldwide in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). This was the first increase in three years, making it a strong comeback for violence on the open seas. The Strait of Malacca and the coasts of Nigeria and Somalia remain hot spots for pirates to attack ships.

To view a global map of all piracy attacks so far this year, check out the IMB Live Piracy Map, which also contains annual maps of all pirate attacks from the last three years.

Last month, the U.S. Navy fired on Somali pirates attempting to hijack a Russian vessel off the Horn of Africa.