Pirates' boldness surprised passengers
Those on cruise recall gunfire directed at ship
MUSCAT, Oman - Passengers on a luxury cruise liner attacked by pirates in the dangerous waters between Yemen and Somalia said yesterday they were surprised by the assailants' boldness and described hearing the "Pop! Pop! Pop!" of the pirates' rifles firing at the ship.
Sunday's attack on the nearly 600-foot long American-operated M/S Nautica in the Gulf of Aden was the latest evidence that pirates have grown more aggressive, viewing almost any ship on the water as a potential target. But the attack lasted only five minutes and the ship with about 650 passengers and 400 crew members on board sped away quickly and was not seized.
"We didn't think they would be cheeky enough to attack a cruise ship," Wendy Armitage, of Wellington, New Zealand, told The Associated Press shortly after disembarking the ship for a daylong port stop in the Omani capital of Muscat.
"It was very minor really," she said of the attack. "But it was a surprise that they attacked us, and they did fire shots."
In about 100 attacks on ships off the Somali coast this year, 40 vessels have been hijacked. Thirteen ships remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 250 crew members including a Saudi supertanker filled with $100 million worth of crude and a Ukrainian ship loaded with 33 battle tanks.
International warships patrol the area and have created a security corridor in the region under a US-led initiative, but attacks on shipping have not abated.
The cruise liner was traveling from Rome to Singapore, a route that most directly must pass through the dangerous strait between Somalia and Yemen.
During the assault, pirates fired eight rifle shots at the ship, according to its operator, Oceania Cruises, Inc. But the captain ordered passengers inside and accelerated quickly, leaving the pirates far behind in their 20- to 30-foot speedboats.
"I couldn't see them shooting, but I heard them hitting the ship, 'Pop! Pop! Pop!' " said Clyde Thornburg, on vacation from his home in Bend, Ore. "It wasn't really scary because the captain announced for the safety of everybody to get inside and get down, and by that time he was pouring on the coals to the ship and was outrunning them."
According to the US Navy's 5th Fleet, about 21,000 ships cross the Gulf of Aden every year, though the fleet could not say how many cruise liners are included in that figure. The gulf links the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
It was not the first time a cruise liner has been attacked. In 2005, pirates opened fire on the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast. The faster cruise ship managed to escape and used a long-range acoustic device - which blasts a painful wave of sound - to distract the pirates.
Several passengers on the Nautica said the crew used a similar device to ward off Sunday's attack, and at least two passengers described hearing two "boom" sounds after the pirates fired their rifles.
Separately, pirates freed a hijacked Yemeni ship and its eight crew members, officials said yesterday. The release Tuesday came after an appeal by local clan elders and regional officials. Somali state minister Ali Abdi Aware said "no ransom was paid."
The ship was seized last month in the Arabian Sea.
"During discussion the pirates were successfully convinced to release the ship because it always brought commercial goods to the region," said Abdi-nur Faratol, one of the negotiators.
A Yemeni security official had said the pirates were initially demanding a $2 million ransom to release the ship and its crew of three Yemenis, three Somalis, and two Panamanians.
The European Union said yesterday that a flotilla will begin anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia next week. 