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Weekly Piracy Report
6-12 December 2006

The following is a summary of the daily reports broadcast by the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre to ships in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean Regions on the SafetyNET service of Inmarsat-C from 6 to 12 December 2006.

ALERT

Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh
Forty one incidents have been reported since 28.01.2006. Pirates are targeting ships preparing to anchor. Ships are advised to take extra precautions.

The IMB Report on Piracy and Armed Attacks on Ships from January to September 2006 is now published. Please see the end of this page to order.

Suspicious crafts
None reported during the week.

Recently reported incidents
10.12.2006 0630 UTC in position 14:15N - 059:44E, Arabian Sea.
A grey wooden boat 15 metres long approached a general cargo ship underway under the pretext of asking for fresh water. Master suspecting piracy, increased speed and took evasive action. The boat pursued the vessel for 45 mins before abandoning chase. Master advised that he had a similar experience in the area on another ship last year.

08.12.2006 0015 LT at Lawe-Lawe Anchorage, Indonesia
Robbers boarded an oil tanker at anchor and forced the forecastle store open. Ships stores were stolen.

08.12.2006 2340 LT in position 01:09N – 103:33.93E, Singapore Straits, Singapore.
A number of small boats approached an oil tanker underway and attempted to board. Master took evasive action, sounded alarm and mustered crew members. After 10 minutes the boats disappeared. Master reported to Singapore authorities.

07.12.2006 0545 LT in position 21:47.9N - 091:42.7E, Chittagong Anchorage, Bangladesh.
Duty AB spotted six robbers armed with long knives during routine rounds onboard a bulk carrier. Robbers tried to take the AB hostage but he managed to escape and informed Duty Officer who alerted other crew members and raised alarm. Robbers escaped with stolen items. Upon inspection it was found that a forecastle store had been broken into and ship's stores missing. Authorities informed.

07.12.2006 0300 UTC in position 06:08.41N - 001:17.43E, Lome port, Togo.
Four robbers armed with knives and bars boarded a bulk carrier at berth waiting for cargo operations. They threatened three duty crew who ran towards accommodation and raised alarm. Robbers stole ship's stores and jumped overboard and escaped towards nearby fishing boat. Local authorities informed.

06.12.2006 2010 LT in position 12:01.0S - 077:12.0W, Callao Outer Anchorage No.1, Peru.
Two robbers armed with handgun and a jungle bolo boarded an anchored general cargo ship at the forepart of the vessel. They took a duty AB hostage and stole ship's stores. Duty Officer raised alarm and robbers escaped in a speed boat. Port authorities informed and a coast guard patrol boat came and searched the area.

04.12.2006 1330 UTC in position 01:09.5N - 103:30.0E, off Racon Delta, Singapore Straits.
A boat approached a VLCC underway eastbound at high speed. The master altered course violently to avoid the boat. Despite numerous evasive measures the boat continued to close in on the vessel. Alarm was raised, crew were on standby. Finally after 30 minutes the boat aborted attempt to board. VTIS Singapore informed.

Piracy prone areas and warnings

S E Asia and the Indian Sub Continent

* Bangladesh : Chittagong anchorage.
* Indonesia : Galasa Straits, Jakarta (Tg.Priok)
* Malaysia - Semporna
* Malacca straits
* Singapore Straits

Africa and Red Sea

* Gulf of Aden / Southern Red Sea
* Somalian waters - Eastern and northeastern coasts are high-risk areas for hijackings. Ships not making scheduled calls to ports in these areas should keep at least 75 nm away from the coast
* West Africa : Lagos

South and Central America and the Caribbean waters

* Jamaica - Kingston
* Peru – Callao

Inventus UAV

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Bird flu has deadly friends: health experts
Fri Dec 8, 2006 4:54am ET

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Bird flu may be the tip of the iceberg. Experts meeting in Mali say the deadly H5N1 virus is just one of a plethora of diseases threatening animals and people around the world as global warming, intensive farming, increased travel and trade help dangerous microbes breed and spread.

"Avian flu is just one of many diseases that are impacting the continent (of Africa). The experts are telling us that other diseases are going to emerge or re-emerge," said Francois Le Gall, the World Bank's lead livestock specialist for Africa.

"Almost every year there is a new disease appearing, and 75 percent of these emerging or re-emerging diseases are coming from animals; 80 percent of those have zoonotic potential," he said in an interview.

Le Gall said such zoonoses -- animal diseases that humans can also catch -- included Rift Valley fever, rabies and anthrax.

"These could come together to create what the experts are calling 'the perfect microbial storm'," he said.

But Le Gall said progress being made to tackle the current bird flu outbreak by strengthening veterinary and human health monitoring systems around the world would temper the risk of an apocalyptic conflagration of diseases.

"All the measures we are using now are going to be useful to control all these emerging or re-emerging diseases -- like veterinary services, public health services," he said. Continued...