奇速英语

打击海盗行动

Pirates（海盗） off the coast of Somalia made big news a few years ago. But the waters of the West Indian Ocean are not the world's most dangerous for pirate attacks right now. The most dangerous seas are those of Southeast Asia.

The International Maritime Bureau released a report on sea pirates this week. The IMB says more than half of all sea pirate attacks since the beginning of 2015 have been in Southeast Asia.

Potting Mukundan is the director of the IMB. He says that armed pirates attack small oil ships in the area about every two weeks.

"It is a disturbing trend because if firm action is not taken then we expect that the violence will increase and the pirates will get a little more fearless in the kind of targets that they will look for."

The IMB director says the small oil ships moving slowly along Southeast Asian coasts are also in danger because they sit low in the water.

Almost 40 percent of pirate attacks this year have been off the coast of Indonesia.

But armed robbery attacks are increasing around Vietnam. In the last three months, Vietnamese officials have reported eight incidents. Pirates are breaking into ships stopped in and around Haiphong and Vung Tau.

In contrast, no incidents have been reported this year in Somalia. The last reported hijacking （劫持）in those waters was in May 2012.

Officials say pirates are not attacking Somalia for several reasons. The country now has a functioning government, a multi-national naval patrol and anti-piracy measures, including onboard armed guards.

But Pottengal Mukundan of the IMB warns it would be very easy for the situation to return to the bad old days. All it takes is one successful hijacking and suddenly people will get interested once more in this criminal activity.