Last year was the worst on record for piracy at sea. Pirates captured 1,181 sailors aboard 53 ships in 2010. Unfortunately, eight of the captives were killed. CNN inform about this quoting the report from the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau. Ships reported 445 pirate attacks in 2010, a 10% increase from 2009. "These figures for the number of hostages and vessels taken are the highest we have ever seen," said Capt. Pottengal Mukundan, director of the bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre. "The continued increase in these numbers is alarming." The waters off the coast of Somalia remain the most dangerous in the world, as 49 ships were captured there - 92% of all ships taken, according to the report. A total of 28 vessels and 638 hostages were still being held for ransom by Somali pirates as of December 31, the report states. Somali pirates have collected tens of millions of dollars in ransom in the past few years, the Somali newspaper Bartamaha reported. Other hot spots in 2010 included the port of Lagos, Nigeria, the port of Chittagong in Bangladesh, the waters of Indonesia, and the South China Sea, according to the report. One glimmer of good news in the report is that attacks in the Gulf of Aden were down by more than half. Ships reported 53 attacks in the gulf between Yemen and Somalia last year, down from 117 the year before. The maritime bureau attributes the improvement to the presence of naval ships from several countries and increased use of self-protection measures. Piracy costs businesses and governments $7 billion to $12 billion a year in ransoms, rerouting of vessels, higher insurance premiums, security equipment, naval forces, prosecutions, lost commerce and operation of anti-piracy organizations, according to a report issued last week by the One Earth Future Foundation. Photo: AFP