An Italian cruise ship repulsed pirates in an attack off the east African coast by returning fire, a Kenyan maritime official said yesterday.
“We hear it’s a cruise ship,” said Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Sea Farers Assistance Program. “If that is the case, then they are putting the lives of their passengers in danger by having weapons onboard.”
Meanwhile, Somali pirates seized a 31,000-tonne German grain carrier in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday, a Kenyan maritime official said.
Pirates also released the Greek vessel MV Saldanha after they were paid US$1.9 million in ransom, a pirate source said.
The Malta-flagged, German-owned MV Patriot belongs to Patriot Schiffahrts and is managed by Blumenthal JMK of Hamburg, Germany, said Andrew Mwangura, director of the East African Seafarers Assistance Program.
“I hear it was taken early this morning,” he said. “It was hijacked in the eastern end of the Gulf of Aden.”
The ship’s 17 crew members are unhurt, Mwangura said. The Foreign Ministry in Berlin could not confirm the German vessel had been seized but said it was investigating.
A pirate said his comrades had also released a Greek ship but he could not give its name.
“My friends have released the Greek ship after US$1.9 million ransom was paid,” said the pirate, identified only as Hussein.
Mwangura named the ship as the Saldanha, captured on Feb. 22, and said it was now on the way to safer waters.
Two other Greek ships are still in pirate hands — the MV Irene E.M., with 22 Filipino crew members, and the Nipayiya.
Pirate attacks off the eastern African coast have escalated in the past few weeks despite the presence of a flotilla of foreign navy warships in the region.
Sea gangs are holding more than 250 hostages and have made millions of dollars through ransoms, driving up insurance costs. Some shipping lines now opt to use a longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid capture.
Hijackings rose nearly 200 percent to 111 last year. So far this year, there have been about 40 incidents. In the latest high-profile hijacking, pirates attacked a US ship, the Maersk Alabama, earlier this month.
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