Italian cruise ship fends off pirate attack

[Lysfoss]

An Italian cruise ship used guns and a firehose to beat off an attack by pirates off the east African coast, the vessel's captain said.

Commander Ciro Pinto of the MSC Melody, which has a capacity of 1,500 passengers and crew, said the ship was slightly damaged by firing from the pirates.

The ship came under attack when it was 320km north of the Seychelles and 960km off the Somali coast.

AdvertisementPinto said pistols were handed out to security staff and they opened fire on the pirates when they tried to clamber up the sides of the ship.

'They tried to put up a ladder with hooks. They were climbing up, so we reacted. We started firing. When they saw us firing - we even sprayed them with water with the firehose - they gave up and went off,' Pinto said.

He said the pirates followed the Melody for another 20 minutes, firing at it all the while.

Two people suffered minor injuries during the incident.

[Morten]

I don't know if these pirates are growing increasingly stupid or desperate! What exactly did they think they were going to do with a cruise ship?! They think that 20-30 pirates were going to take over a ship with 1500 people onboard?! Even if they had succeeded in getting onboard, there would be plenty of people going for "hero" status trying to take down a pirate or two!

Then of cause there is the issue of how far away from Somalia they actually attacked this ship! 960 km from Somalia! That pretty much means that nomatter how far away from the Somali coast you go, you are still going to be in danger of being attacked! We need aircraft carriers and surveilance planes! I'm positively sure that an F-14 hunting you down with his 20 mm Vulcan machine cannon will make you think twice before attacking a ship!

[Stephen Chester]

Hi All
Am I the only one to ask the question; Why are these attacks still happening? Why hasn't the international community got together to protect these ships. Why can't we run the ships in convoy, like they did during the war, with naval escorts? It would cost, but must be cheaper than the tens of millions being paid to the pirates to get the ships back. The payments are probably being used to rearm the pirates with even more sophisticated weapons or worse being passed on to Al Quaeda. Maybe I'm just a dumb Kiwi but a seems to be a no brainer to me.
Regards to all
Stevie