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Pirate attacks worldwide hit record numbers in the first half of 2003 with the heaviest violence in the waters of Indonesia and Bangladesh, a maritime watchdog group said Thursday.

The shipping industry suffered 234 attacks from January through June this year, up 37 percent compared with 171 incidents during the same period in 2002, the International Maritime Bureau said in a report released by its Kuala Lumpur-based piracy watch center.

This was the first time in more than a decade of the bureau's record-keeping that more than 200 pirate attacks were recorded in the first six months of any year.

Indonesia's waters remained the world's most dangerous. The sprawling Southeast Asian archipelago suffered 64 attacks in six months, far outstripping the next worst — Bangladesh with 23 attacks. India and Nigeria followed with 18 each.

"There are no signs that the number of attacks will drop unless Indonesia takes serious steps to address the problem," the IMB said.

Bandits who once relied on knives and crude weapons were becoming more organized and better equipped, the Maritime Bureau warned. The number of attacks using guns climbed to 53 this year compared to 31 in the first half of 2002.

Sixteen seafarers were killed in attacks, mostly in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia — almost tripling the six casualties reported in the same period last year.

IMB Director Capt. Pottengal Mukundan urged affected countries to boost surveillance so that pirates could be captured and prosecuted.

"Levels of violence have increased significantly," Mukundan said. "It is vital that coastal states ... deploy patrol vessels capable of dealing with these incidents and ensure that these criminals do not treat these waters as a pirate's charter."

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