Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Eyewitness Account On The Pirate Attempt To Take The Cruise Ship MSC Melody

A companion warship can be seen from the deck of the MSC Melody: According to one British passenger, pirates were only unable to scale the ship because of a spirited defense conducted by passengers. MSC Cruises chief Vago, though, had a slightly different take: "The passengers hindered the attackers, but it was the shots of our security people that drove them away."

Passengers Fought Pirates with Tables and Deck Chairs -- Spiegel Online

When pirates attacked the cruise ship MSC Melody on Saturday, the captain was making small talk at the bar. Passengers have given a version of events that is more dramatic than the crew's accounts. They were the first to defend the ship and they are now criticizing the crew, who have been portrayed as heroes.

Ciro Pinto was certain he was right. The captain was relaxed as he enjoyed a drink at the bar of the MSC Melody cruise ship, chatting on Saturday afternoon with two South African passengers. The women asked him if the bands of marauding pirates posed a problem for the cruise. Never, the experienced seaman told them. After all, the ship was far -- 1,000 sea miles -- away from the Somali coast as it made its course across the Indian Ocean, a few hundred miles south of the Seychelles, on a 22-day cruise from Durban, South Africa, to Genoa, Italy. It was unimaginable, virtually impossible even, that flip-flop wearing pirates could attack them here.

Read more ....

More News On Somali Piracy

Somali 'vigilante' fishermen fight back against pirates -- The Telegraph
Somali vigilantes capture pirates -- BBC
Somali vigilantes fight back against pirates -- Christian Science Monitor
Somali piracy costs Suez Canal business -- San Francisco Chronicle
Planes seen as crucial against Somali piracy -- Reuters
Somali pirates jailed for 15 to 20 years -- IOL
The pirate king of Somalia -- Globe And Mail
10 Things You Didn't Know About Somali Pirates -- Wall Street Journal

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