Cruise ship passengers surprised by pirate attack

By Associated Press
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 - Updated 353d 3h ago

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MUSCAT, Oman - Passengers on a luxury cruise liner attacked by pirates in the dangerous waters between Yemen and Somalia said today 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.

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About the only items missing from that Dutch/UN Cmdr's checkoff list were mounting a protest-letter-writing campaign and holding a candlelight vigil. How about this approach: communicate a zero tolerance warning to all the major Somali ports, and then the next time a pirate fires on an passing craft it gets blown out of the water. Moreover, it opens up new business opportunities for American satellite-guided weaponry (and otherwise you are giving a good excuse for the Chinese to ramp up their naval operations - which is not a good thing), and that new business is: non-military naval protection. I can envision the following sales pitch by a US protection industry rep to a prospect who is a Saudi freighter owner: '...say, Mr. Sheik, it would be a shame if something happened to that be-yoo-ti-full boat of yours...'.

Posted 12 months ago

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