2024 in piracy
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2024 in piracy included 33 reports of maritime piracy and armed robbery against ships to the International Maritime Bureau during the first quarter of the year. Incidents included 24 vessels boarded, six of which experienced attempted attacks; two hijacked; and one fired upon. Crew continued to suffer violence, with 35 crew taken hostage, nine kidnapped, and one threatened during three first three months of the year.[1]
Piracy surged in the Gulf of Aden at the start of the year.[2] Increased incidents of piracy and hijacking in the Somali basin continued to be reported.[3] When Houthis began attacking international shipping in the Red Sea, the year before, Somali pirates seized the opportunity to increase their attacks on ships off the Horn of Africa.[4][5]
Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea extended beyond the Israel-Hamas war to, as stated by a spokesman in January 2024, response to "American-British aggression against our country". US Central Command then stated that the Houthi attacks "have nothing to do with the conflict in Gaza" and that Houthis had "fired indiscriminately into the Red Sea", to target vessels, affecting more than 40 nations.[6]
In March, shipping routes reported as the most dangerous in the world due to piracy (aside from hijackings and other incidents in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden related to the Israel-Hamas war) were identified as: the Singapore Strait, Gulf of Guinea and the Strait of Malacca.[7]