Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia held 374 hostages last month, a record high, a maritime security company said.

The pirates abducted seafarers from several countries in September, and the total held surpassed the 292 people taken in all of 2007, Hans Hansen, managing director of Risk Intelligence, a Vedbaek, Denmark-based company, said today in an e-mailed statement.

``This is the highest number of hostages held at one given time in recent years,'' said Hansen, without saying where or how he got the information.

Attacks off Somalia this year have more than doubled, yielding as much as $30 million in ransom payments, Chatham House, a London-based analysis group, said in a report today. Piracy may force ships to avoid the Gulf of Aden and Suez Canal in Egypt, increasing the costs of oil and other goods from Asia and the Middle East.

France today circulated a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that would urge all nations to ``take part actively in the fight against piracy'' by deploying naval vessels and military aircraft off Somalia and to use the ``necessary means'' to combat crime at sea.

The Security Council will likely vote early next week on the measure, diplomats said.

June Vote

The council voted in June to adopt a resolution that allows any nation, with the permission of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, to enter Somali waters to pursue pirates.

France, Germany and six other European Union governments yesterday said they would deploy more warships off Somalia to fight piracy.

Such measures will have only a temporary effect as long as the nation's security problems persist, Hansen said.

About 60 boats have been attacked by pirates this year in waters off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Two people died last month while being held by the pirates, one from a gunshot and another from heart failure, Risk Intelligence said.

The pirates make an average of $1 million from every ship they seize and typically hold crews for five weeks, according to Risk Intelligence.

``For them, piracy is a business,'' Hansen said. ``At the moment, they are successful at what they are doing, unfortunately.''

The report blamed piracy in the Horn of Africa country on local political instability.

Somalia has been wracked by violence since the UN-backed transitional government ousted an Islamic militia from southern and central parts of the country in January 2007. The nation hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 removal of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Okolo in Lagos at pokolo@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 2, 2008 16:52 EDT