27 April 2009

Cruise ship attacked by pirates - UPDATED

An MSC Cruises ship carrying 1,000 passengers and 500 crew has come under fire from pirates off the Seychelles.

The pirates approached the ship in a small speedboat firing automatic weapons.

The ship, MSC Melody, initiated avoidance procedures and quickly escaped the attack with no injuries to any of the approximately 1,000 passengers and 500 crew members on board, a statement from the Italian company said.

The attack occurred at 19:35 GMT on Saturday evening while the ship was sailing 180 nautical miles from Port Victoria in the Seychelles on a cruise from South Africa to Italy.

The ship's captain reportedly said that the six pirates fired 200 rounds of shots at the vessel. Ship security staff responded by shooting in the air and into the water and passegers were ordered to stay in their cabins as the drama unfolded.

MSC Cruises said it immediately informed the Italian government foreign office, the Maritime Security Centre in London and the Co-ordination Center for Security in Dubai.

A military vessel from the international security forces in the region has been sent to escort the Melody as a precaution, and the ship is continuing to Aqaba, Jordan, on its scheduled itinerary, according to the cruise line.

MSC Cruises owner Gianluigi Aponte said: "We are very proud that our crew proved to be able to promptly tackle the emergency.

"At the moment of the attack, the ship was 600 nautical miles from Somalian coast, in an area that is not considered dangerous, and 180 nautical miles from Seychelles.

"All security measures adopted worked perfectly. Capitain Ciro Pinto followed all security protocols provided, guiding the ship out of danger wiith a sequence of evasive manoeuvres and then taking a course of 080°, lights turned off.

"Even in such a critical situation land and onboard staff showed great professionalism and extreme clarity, allowing the ship to continue on its itinerary without additional problems and consequences for passengers and the crew."

by Phil Davies

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Your Comments (2)

600 nautical miles !

The pirates were 600 nautical miles from Somalia, surely it should not be hard for International war ships to be stationed in the area and to pick up all these pirate boats. 600 nautical miles - it is not exactly as if they could make a quick getaway is it. How difficult would it be for the UN to arange this - and if they cannot do this , then what on earth are they for ? Surely they don't spend all their time in meetings ?

By Nick Cooper, Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Dragging Feet

Although the states have not been the quickest to action these much needed works, the process may have been "slowed" slightly by Flybe's stance of a few years ago to encourage the island not to extend the runway and leave it as it is. Some may have thought that this was to protect Flybe's market share when they were using different craft which didn't need the work. I'm sure that was not the case though, it must have been for some other reason.

By Ally Jones, Monday, April 27, 2009