Pirates Attack Cruise Ship Off Somalia
November 05, 2005 12:56 PM EST
MIAMI - Pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade and machine guns Saturday in an attack on a luxury cruise liner off the east African coast, the vessel's owners said.
Two armed boats approached the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles off the coast of Somalia and fired as the boats' occupants attempted to get onboard, said Bruce Good, a spokesman for Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp.
The crew initiated a trained response and avoided being boarded, Good said. The ship outran them and changed its course.
"Our suspicion at this time is that the motive was theft," Good said.
One member of the 161-person crew was slightly injured before the attackers were repelled, according to a London-based Seabourn Cruises spokesman.
Press Association, the British news agency, said passengers awoke to the sound of gunfire as two 25-foot inflatable boats approached the liner. The injured crew member was reportedly hit by flying debris.
The vessel's 151 passengers, mostly Americans with some Australians and Europeans, were gathered in a lounge for their safety, Good said. None were injured.
The Spirit had been bound for Mombasa, Kenya, at the end of a 16-day voyage from Alexandria, Egypt. It was expected to reach the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean on Monday, and then continue on its previous schedule to Singapore, company officials said.
The 10,000-ton cruise ship, registered in the Bahamas, sustained minor damage, Good said. "They took some fire, but it's safe to sail," he said.
Piracy along the Somalia coast is common - several ships a month are attacked or hijacked, with valuables stolen and crews held for ransom.
Somalia's 1,880-mile coastline is Africa's longest, and the country has had no effective central government since opposition leaders ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. They then turned on each other, transforming this nation of 7 million into a patchwork of battling fiefdoms ruled by heavily armed militias.
Ooooo! I see a job opportunity in this . . . riding shotgun on cruise ships!
