Pirates fire at cruise ship near Somalia

[RamboLiberal]

Source: LA Times

Pirates in a small skiff today (Sunday, Nov. 30) fired rifle shots at a cruise ship carrying 684 passengers in the Gulf of Aden between Somalia and Yemen. No one was hurt, but the Nautica was forced to take evasive action, revving up past 20 knots, its normal top speed, said Tim Rubacky, spokesman for the vessel’s operator, luxury line Oceania Cruises.

In this situation, “you pour on all the power you’ve got,” Rubacky said in a telephone interview.

The daylight encounter points to the growing boldness of pirates off Somalia’s coast. On Friday pirates seized a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden. The incident also poses a dilemma for cruise lines and passengers because the gulf is the key gateway between the Mediterranean and Asia. Oceania was evaluating the situation, Rubacky said, but had not ruled out using the waterway in the future.

After pirates off the Somali coast in 2005 fired on another cruise ship, the Seabourn Spirit, injuring a crew member, cruise lines adopted more stringent anti-piracy measures.

The incident Sunday began at 9:28 a.m. local time as the Nautica, on a 32-day voyage, sailed through the Gulf of Aden on its way from Luxor, Egypt, to Oman, Rubacky said.


Read more: http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/pirates-fire-at-crui-3413/

[TomInTib]

1. I wonder what they had?

It would take some serious ordnance to screw with a cruise ship.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

4. One Ma-Deuce. Perhaps 30 rounds.

That's all it would have taken to convince those Khat-addled morons of the error of their ways.

[TomInTib]

7. I would think the cruise lines could employ some heavy security.

I'll bet there won't be any more unsecured tankers trundling through.

[Bozita]

2. Goin' for the gold.

In more ways than one.

[Robbien]

3. What was that cruise ship doing in Somalian waters?

Hauling freight is one thing, but carrying passengers through waterways belonging to Somalia which are full of pirates? Reckless.

[RamboLiberal]

5. Because its a key gateway

The Gulf of Aden (Arabic: خليج عدن‎; transliterated: Khalīj 'Adan Somali: Khaleejka Cadan) is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula and Somalia in the Horn of Africa. In the northwest, it connects with the Red Sea through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.

The waterway is part of the important Suez canal shipping route between the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Sea in the Indian Ocean. The Gulf is known by the nickname "Pirate Alley" due to the large amount of piracy in the area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Aden

[Trajan]

6. So .... A 'Key Gateway' cannot be defended from piracy ?

If it cannot be defended, then why would a cruise ship NOT take the safest route ?; along the Yemeni coast, for instance ...

It seems the international maritime community is failing to provide a solution to the Somali piracy problem, and yet they pretend it is 'ok' to continue using the strait ...

Really ... It is NOT ok to use this waterway if the situation cannot be resolved, and this is especially true for leisure travel ...

If the maritime community cannot avoid the pirates because there is no way to 'get around it', then it is a small enough area to better police ....

A cruise ship should in NO WAY be exposed in this way ....

[Robbien]

8. The waterway belongs to Somalia and Yemen

To use the Yemen side, a deal needs to be brokered with the Yemen government. Since Somalia doesn't have a working government, ships take like to use the Somalian side of the waterway free of charge. But there is a cost. Pirates.

So again, why are these ships full of vacationing people being taken through the Somalian side of the waterway? The cruise line has much to answer to.

[More_liberal_than_mo]

10. They are using the Yemeni side

check this map of locations where the hijackings have occurred.
http://www.eaglespeak.us/2008/11/somali-pirate-maps.html
(click on map to get a bigger version).
Note: that nearly all occurred along the main shipping channel close to the Yemeni side, not the Somali side as most people think. Its just that the Somali pirates are so bold that they think they can get away with this.

The US Marine Corps was founded in 1775 with its prime mission being to secure international shipping lanes for commercial ships. The Marines first foreign battles were fought onshore at Tripoli (now Libya)against pirates. Just because W has overloaded the Marines with other work (Iraq and Afghanistan) doesn't mean we have to turn a blind eye to these modern day pirates. A few well planned raids of the Somali pirates home ports should be sufficient to convince them to stop this piracy. How many ships have to be taken before our countries leaders (the rhinestone cowboy that claims to lead our nation right now) have had enough? We don't have to occupy the ports just slash and burn then withdraw.

[TankLV]

11. My thoughts exactly...

[benld74]

9. ALL SKEET SHOOTING CANCELLED FOR REST OF CRUISE,,REPEATIING,,,