| Background on the piracy problem. |
The Somali pirate took control, along with a group of armed hijackers, of the Taiwanese fishing vessel in mid-May off the Somali coast and on June 2 they killed one crew member out of frustration with failed ransom negotiations. They have threatened to kill more crew members if a ransom is not paid soon. The ship is one of five currently held by Somali pirates who are back in action, attacking with speedboats mounted with machine guns, on a scale unseen for more than a year.
This year has so far seen at least 10 attacks and many attempted attacks off SomaliaÂ’s 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) of unpatrolled coastline, the same amount as during the whole of 2006.