Greek ship repels pirates with hoses

ATHENS - Crewmen used high-pressure hoses yesterday to fight off heavily armed Somali pirates trying to board a Greek oil tanker in the dangerous Gulf of Aden, officials said. It was the fourth pirate attack of the new year.

Armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, pirates in three speedboats twice tried to board the Greek-flagged Kriti Episkopi but were driven away when the crew turned fire hoses on them and European Union aircraft scrambled from a nearby EU naval flotilla to help, shipping company and Greek government officials said.

The attack came a day after Somali pirates seized an Egyptian cargo ship and its 28 crew in the waterway, one of the world's most important sea routes. Also Thursday, a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked and a French warship thwarted an attack on a Panamanian cargo ship and captured several pirates.

The captain of the Kriti Episkopi spotted the pirates' speedboats just before 11 a.m. While he took evasive action to try to avoid them, Greek authorities alerted the naval flotilla.

A spokesman for the Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said a plane and helicopter were quickly sent to the scene, which scared off the pirates. A frigate also was dispatched.

The 29 crew members were unhurt and the tanker, carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to Greece, was not damaged in the attack off the Somali coast, according to the ship's operating company, Avin International.

More than a dozen warships are now patrolling between the shores of Yemen and Somalia to try to protect commercial vessels in the key waterway, which links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.

ASSOCIATED PRESS