MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US cruise vessel outruns hijacking pirates in Gulf of Aden

Cruise vessel Nautica

Pirates chased and shot at a US cruise liner with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel as it sailed along a corridor patrolled by international warships, a maritime official said Tuesday.

The "Nautica" liner, carrying 656 international passengers and 399 crew members, was sailing through the Gulf of Aden on Sunday when it encountered six bandits in two speedboats, said Noel Choong who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Malaysia. The pirates fired at the passenger liner but the larger boat was faster than the pirates' vessels, Choong said. "It is very fortunate that the liner managed to escape" he said, urging all ships to remain vigilant in the area. The International Maritime Bureau, which fights maritime crime, did not know how many cruise liners use these waters. The US Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said it was aware of the failed hijacking but had no further details. M/S Nautica belongs to Oceania Cruises Inc. In a statement on its Web site, the company said pirates fired eight rifle shots at the liner, but that the ship's captain increased speed and managed to outrun the skiffs. All passengers and crew are safe and there was no damage to the vessel, it said. The Nautica was on a 32-day cruise from Rome to Singapore, with stops at ports in Italy, Egypt, Oman, Dubai, India, Malaysia and Thailand, the Web site said. Based on that schedule, the liner was headed from Egypt to Oman when it was attacked. The liner arrived in the southern Oman port city of Salalah on Monday morning, and the passengers toured the city before leaving for the capital, Muscat, Monday evening, an official of the Oman Tourism Ministry said Tuesday. It is not the first time a cruise liner has been attacked. In 2005, pirates opened fire on the "Seabourn Spirit" about 160 kilometres off the Somali coast. The faster cruise ship managed to escape, and used a long-range acoustic device â€" which blasts a painful wave of sound â€" to distract the pirates. The International Maritime Bureau, in London, cited only the 2005 liner attack and a raid on the luxury yacht Le Ponant earlier this year as attacks on passenger vessels off Somalia. International warships patrol the area and have created a security corridor in the region under a US-led initiative, but the attacks have not abated.