Pirates shift hijacks to smaller boats: UN

It has been almost three years since Somali pirates successfully hijacked a large commercial vessel but they have lately shifted to targeting smaller foreign fishing boats, according to a United Nations report.

The report says that as of August 2016 there were no seafarers from large commercial vessels held by Somali pirates but 39 hostages from foreign boats remained in captivity.

The report also found that while reported incidents increased to 15 in the roughly year-long period that ended in October 2016, up from 12 in the previous period, the numbers were sharply lower than the 237 reported at its peak in 2011.