. Worldwide in 2008 , a total of 49 vessels were hijacked and 889 crew members taken hostage , the report said . Eleven crew members were killed and 21 others are missing and presumed dead . The pirates are targeting every kind of vessel and are better armed and prepared to assault and injure the crew , the report said . Incidents involving guns nearly doubled from 72 in 2007 to 139 last year . Pirate attacks last year included the hijacking of the largest ship ever taken by pirates , an oil supertanker called the Sirius Star . Attackers seized the giant ship and its 23-man crew in November and only released it last week after receiving a $ 3.5 million ransom payment . The carrier 's crew was released unharmed . Last year 's uptick in hijackings off East Africa has already spurred a number of international navies to patrol the Gulf of Aden . Mukundan said he hoped that more governments would authorize their naval forces to patrol the region . `` International navies are the only ones capable of effective response against piracy in the region and can help to secure the safety and security
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Piracy off the coast of Somalia rose nearly 200 percent in 2008 compared to the year before , with bolder attacks over greater distances , an international piracy monitor said Friday . The French military on patrol in the Gulf of Aden . Somalia and the Gulf of Aden were the worst areas for piracy in 2008 , according to the annual report from International Maritime Bureau 's Piracy Reporting Center -LRB- PRC -RRB- . It said 42 vessels were hijacked there and 815 crew members taken hostage -- more than any place else in the world . The increased ability of pirates to sail farther out to sea , coupled with the inability of the Somali government to respond , led to what the report called an `` unprecedented '' rise in piracy in the area . The problems off the Somali coast contributed to a global rise in piracy , which was up 11 percent in 2008 from the year before , the report said . `` The 2008 statistics surpass all figures recorded by the PRC since it began its worldwide reporting function in 1991 , '' said IMB Director Captain Pottengal Mukundan