Cruise ship trapped in ice for four days

http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/cruise-ship-stuck-in-antarctic-ice-3153483

More than 100 penguin-loving tourists including dozens from Britain are trapped by ice off Antarctica aboard a Russian ice-breaker cruise ship, officials and the tour operator said on Monday.

The Kapitan Khlebnikov is in a bay near Snow Hill island, located off the northeastern end of the Antarctic Peninsula, and cannot leave as the bay is sealed off with ice, the Russian transportation ministry said.

"The wind has currently slowed down in the area and the massing of the ice has ended. Everything is calm aboard the ice-breaker, nothing is threatening the passengers and crew," the ministry said in a statement.

"When the wind changes to a favourable direction, the ice-breaker will head into clear water and on to the port of Ushuaia," at the extreme southern end of Argentina, the ministry predicted.

There were 105 passengers aboard the vessel and the total delay in the ship's scheduled trip could be around two days, it added.

The ship has been at its current location for four days, German Kuzin, an official with the Far Eastern Shipping Company, the ship's owner, said in televised remarks.

"There's nothing to worry about there," Kuzin said. "To put it plainly, the ship got stuck between an island and an ice massif."

Another Whale Killed by Princess Cruise Ship

http://www.motherjones.com/

A Supposedly Fun Thing That Seems To Kill Whales
— By Mark Follman Tue July 28, 2009 9:42 AM PST

Over the weekend, an adult fin whale—a threatened species in Canada—turned up dead in the waters at a cruise ship terminal in Vancouver. The rare marine giant was impaled on the bow of the “Sapphire Princess,” a Princess Cruises’ ship arriving from Alaska.But according to my source, two passengers who arrived on the Sapphire Princess in Vancouver this weekend said that several passengers on the ship had seen whales swimming around and under the ship as it traveled the Inside Passage cruise route just north of Vancouver Island.
Spaven, the DFO spokesperson, told the Vancouver Sun that she believes the whale was struck north of Vancouver Island, since fin whales aren’t normally found in the straits closer to Vancouver.
The Inside Passage is famously rich with marine wildlife and is a crucial habitat and migratory route for whales. As the Sun also reports: “This is the second time in the last 10 years that a cruise vessel has come into the Port of Vancouver with a whale caught on the bow. In that instance, in June of 1999, the Celebrity Cruise vessel MV Galaxy collided with an adult male fin whale, which likely happened as the ship transited the Hecate Strait north of Vancouver Island.”

Murder on Carnival Cruise Ship Elation

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

Husband arrested in woman's death aboard cruise ship
3:00 PM July 16, 2009
A 55-year-old San Fernando Valley man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of his wife while the two were on an ocean cruise to Mexico, the FBI said.
Robert McGill of Winnetka was arrested after the ship docked today in San Diego.
McGill and his wife, Shirley, 55, were on a five-day Carnival Cruise Lines voyage aboard the ship Elation when ship's personnel went to their cabin Tuesday to investigate a possible domestic disturbance. Shirley McGill was found dead, the FBI said.
FBI agents, ferried by a Coast Guard cutter, boarded the Elation and this morning FBI evidence technicians searched the 2,052-passenger ship when it docked in San Diego.
The FBI has authority in the case under federal maritime law.

LA man arrested in wife's high-seas deathHe declined to release any details of the death, but a statement from Carnival Cruise Lines said the woman was killed on Tuesday evening after the couple got into a dispute in their cabin. The man was taken to the ship's brig and a guard was posted on the cabin, which was secured as a crime scene, Slotter said. The FBI sent about 20 agents to the ship in a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Wednesday night while the ship was at sea, and they spent the night interviewing the suspect ...SignOnSanDiego.com: Nation - http://www3.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/

Cruise ship industry reverses stance, backs federal safety bill

www.latimes.com/business
The legislation would make shipboard crime reporting mandatory and require installation of security latches and peepholes on cabin doors, among other measures.
By Kimi Yoshino July 7, 2009
The nation's cruise ship industry, in a turnaround from its long-standing position that no additional government oversight is needed, on Monday endorsed proposed federal safety legislation, paving the way for increased security measures on cruise ships.Cruise Lines International Assn., the industry's chief lobbying and advocacy organization representing 24 member cruise lines, sent a letter of support to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), one of the bill's co-sponsors. Association President Terry Dale said in the letter that he would work to ensure the passage of the comprehensive security bill.

If it passes, the bill would make shipboard crime reporting mandatory and require installation of security latches and peepholes on cabin doors. Ship physicians would also have to be trained in sexual assault examinations.Ken Carver, president and founder of International Cruise Victims, called the shift "a historic moment.""I think they've really taken a lot of heat and I'm glad to see them joining forces," Carver said, adding that he believes with the cruise industry's backing the bill will pass.
The $38-billion-a-year industry had maintained that cruises were one of the safest forms of vacationing and that its own self-regulation was adequate. But in recent years, after several high-profile reports of missing persons and sexual assaults, cruise lines had increasingly come under scrutiny.If the bill passes it would be a significant victory for safety advocates, who have long alleged that the industry skirts regulation by registering its vessels in foreign countries to avoid U.S. labor laws and income tax.The industry requested one major concession: deletion of an amendment to the Death on the High Seas Act that would have allowed surviving relatives to recover damages for their emotional suffering and bereavement, as well as any pain and suffering the victim may have experienced before death.Under the existing law, survivors of people who die at sea can only recover lost wages or burial expenses. If a retired person died, for example, family members would get little if any money, Miami maritime attorney James Walker said.The legislation would also clarify the long-debated issue of crime reporting. The bill would establish a reporting structure based on the current voluntary reporting guidelines.Each ship would be required to maintain a logbook to record all deaths, missing persons, alleged crimes, and complaints of theft, sexual harassment and assault. That data would also be posted on a website maintained by the Coast Guard.kimi.yoshino@latimes.com

Royal Caribbean: A floating nation where you are free to do whatever you want

The Nation of Why Not launched by Royal Caribbean
Described as a floating nation where you are free to do whatever you want, Royal Caribbean has pushed the boundaries of imagination and innovation with there latest ad campaign. With the launch of the new brand concept - Nation of Why Not, the statement from Royal Caribbean is ‘anything is possible’. The new brand poses questions such as why not climb mountains at sea, ice-skate on the Equator or sunbathe past glaciers?
WHY NOT commit sexual assault on a cruise ship and never worry about being prosecuted. (Even though there have been hundreds of sexual assualts on cruise lines, there has been no convictions over the last forty years)
WHY NOT fall off a cruise ship and never have your death investigated.
WHY NOT take a cruise and be exposed to the Nova virus or the novel H1N1 virus and watch the ship be quarantined.
WHY NOT provide the foreign cruise companies with untaxed profits and help them pollute the deep blue sea at the same time.

Travel Attorney and former general counsel for cruise line reveals massive cover-ups: cruise lines protect their reputation not passengers

eturbonews.com

They are powerful because it is this multi-multi-billion dollar industry and, like the aviation industry...So they are trying to be protective, and the consumer doesn’t have the rights that he or she needs...

just tell these ships: if you take the millions of US passengers that you do, you better collect evidence if there’s a crime. You better not try to cover it up, and you better report to the Coast Guard, the FBI, Homeland Security...We have such a need for the security. And, again, using this as an area I testify to sometimes as an expert witness, the security is more engaged in keeping the outside duty-free liquor off the ship so the passengers are forced to buy the cutsie little drinks with the umbrellas, than sometimes concentrating on security while on board. That’s a different need. There are thieves on board. You’ve got close surroundings on board. You have a lot of drinking on board. You have a lot of assaults and a lot of rapes. And, people can’t do much, especially if they’re part of the crew. And, this is wrong. This has got to be protected as a basic human right; protect those people that are working for you or are paying good money to be passengers...We’ve got to be able to make the cruise lines keep this information, not engage in cover ups. Turn it over and cooperate. That’s the biggest part of the legislation. And, what legislator could disagree with that? That tells somebody, if there is some incident happening on your ship, you’re not to cover up, you’re to assist with the authorities...

Some Things Oprah should know about deaths on cruise ships & the evil cruise companies‏

Oprah Winfrey treating her staff to Mediterranean cruise
www.suntimes.com
June 19, 2009
BY MARK BIEGANSKI Staff Reporter
Oprah Winfrey : the world's greatest boss?
For the second time in recent years, she's making a strong case for that title by taking her entire staff and their families on vacation. This time they're going on a lavish Mediterranean cruise.Winfrey and her staff will leave Chicago on Saturday. The cruise ship will stop in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Malta. She is covering transportation, food, drinks and activities at port stops.
In 2005, Winfrey celebrated the end of her "Wildest Dreams" season by surprising her staff with an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii.
According to Chicago-based Best Travel, a cruise like the one Winfrey is taking her staff on costs about $5,400 a person. The billionaire employs more than 100 people at her Chicago based TV production company which recently featured an interview with the parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann.

Speaking of missing persons:
Since the year 2000, 116 cruise ship passengers have gone overboard.
http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Overboard.html

I hope her staff did some research before planning the cruise. The cruise lines are some of the greediest, unethical, profit grabbing corporations on earth. They employ individuals from third world countries under sweat shop conditions which are just a step away from slavery. With the help of John McCain and the millions of dollars they spend on lobbying each year, they have prevented the passage of any meaningful legislation to improve safety and security on cruise ships. Royal Carribean is still incorporated in Liberia so they can avoid regulations, taxes, and corporate responsibility. The also flagged their ships for years there for the same reason. The millions of dollars they paid in fees helped finance Charles Tayor when he murdered close to 400,000 humans in Africa.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taylor_(Liberia) . Winfrey had her DNA tested for the 2006 PBS program African American Lives. The genetic test determined that her maternal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia. I started my blog in 2005 after two grandparents were murdered on the carnival cruise ship we were on and there was no investigation. They didn't even turn the ship around to look for the bodies for over 8 hours. I also have evidence that the cruise lines have threatened a newspaper to kill a story that put the industry in bad light. I hope somenone can share this with Oprah's staff.

115 individuals have gone overboard since the year 2000. Many of the deaths were never investigated thoroughly and were never solved. Foul play should be considered for all incidents until they are fully investigated. The Cruise Lines continue to tell the media that this is a rare occurence. Nothing has improved since our cruise in 2005 when a beloved and respected couple fell overboard and died and the ship did not return to where they fell for over 12 hours and then there was no investigation of their murder. In the most recent case, the captain was not even notified of the death until 8 hours later. If somone died or was injured in a bar or a restaurant could they get away with waiting 8 hours before reporting it. Negligence by the cruise line and perhaps Congress? There have been recent congressional hearings but no effective legislation. Then again why would any of the cruise lines be concerned about the death of one customer? http://safecruise.blogspot.com/2006/04/did-royal-caribbean-and-celebrity.html"How & Why Did Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Help Liberian Dictator, Charles Taylor Brutally Kill over 300,000 Individuals in Africa in the 1990's?"
How many more people must get killed at the intersection before we put up a stoplight? We are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore. Take a cruise that is. Americans should be encouraged to travel domestically until independent law enforcement is on every cruise ship.

Second time in less than a month a passenger went overboard from a Carnival cruise ship based in the Gulf

Cruise passenger still
WALA-TV FOX10 - ‎1 hour ago‎
"Find her." Vilborg's disappearance marks the second time in less than a month a passenger went overboard from a Carnival cruise ship based in the Gulf.

Cruising into trouble
Tampabay.com - ‎2 hours ago‎
So far this year, 12 passengers or crewmen have gone overboard from cruise ships or ferries. That includes the Alabama woman still missing after a Tuesday ...

Carnival Cruise Passenger falls Overboard at 4 AM and is Rescued by Crew Members

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3269

June 15, 2009 - (4:20 p.m. EDT)

-- A passenger who went overboard from Carnival Inspiration was rescued this morning when he was found hugging a pilot marker in a shipping channel.According to a Coast Guard news release, "Crewmembers from a pilot vessel rescued a man at about 6:50 a.m. Monday, about one mile southeast of Mullet Key, in Fort Desoto, in St. Petersburg."The man was identified by the Coast Guard as Larry Miller, 46, who told the pilot crew that he had gone overboard from the cruise ship at approximately 4 a.m.According to a statement from Carnival Cruise Lines, "The guest told authorities that he climbed up on a railing to get a better view of the pilot boat when he slipped and fell overboard." Miller was taken to a hospital to be treated for injuries.Interestingly, Carnival did not know the man had gone overboard until reports surfaced of his rescue. He had not been reported missing at that time. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.Carnival Inspiration was returning to Tampa from a four-night Western Caribbean cruise that departed on Thursday, June 11. The ship is scheduled to depart on a five-night cruise this afternoon as scheduled.--by Dan Askin, Associate Editor

Teenager falls overboard from Carnival cruise ship originating in New Orleans

http://www.nola.com
by The Times-Picayune
Monday May 25, 2009, 11:35 AM
A cruise ship headed to Key West from New Orleans lost a passenger Sunday evening when an 18-year-old man fell overboard, the Coast Guard said. The call came in at 9:45 p.m., said Petty Officer Nick Ameen, a Coast Guard spokesman in Miami. A teenager, likely a member of a high school group celebrating graduation, had fallen into the water. Now, almost 14 hours later, the man is still missing, Ameen said. Helicopters, a C-130 Hercules and the Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket are still scouring the ocean about 150 miles off the Florida coast from Tampa Bay. The cruise ship, the Carnival Fantasy, circled the area until 2:30 a.m., before proceeding on to Key West, Ameen said. Ameen said he didn't have any identification for the teenager, but WWL-TV is reporting his name is Bruce O'Krepki of Hammond, a recent graduate St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

Crews search Gulf for missing teen
http://www.wafb.com

Increasinag Number of Cases of Swine Flu on Cruise Ships

Swine flu threat becoming more serious: Roxon
ABC Online - ‎1 hour ago‎
Speaking to Channel Nine, Ms Roxon also defended authorities who quarantined a cruise ship in Sydney because of a swine flu scare yesterday. ...
Swine Flu Cases Surge Above 10000
Voice of America - ‎May 20, 2009‎
Health authorities say the 52-year-old Australian man arrived in Taipei on Monday, after working as a doctor on a cruise ship in the northeastern US state ...
Second Cruise Ship Reports Possible Swine Flu Among Crew
CruiseCritic.co.uk - ‎May 13, 2009‎
At this point, it is unknown whether the H1N1 virus is present. However, when the ship arrived in Barbados this morning, information about the illness and ...
Fears swine flu has spread in South Australian schools
Adelaidenow - ‎3 hours ago‎
ALMOST 3000 passengers on a cruise ship from Hawaii were held up for five hours in Sydney for tests after several showed flu symptoms. ...
Doctors on alert
Tasmania Mercury - ‎5 hours ago‎
Also yesterday the P&O cruise ship Dawn Princess spent five hours in quarantine in Sydney after four of its 3000 passengers and crew were tested for the ...
Thousands held in harbour quarantine
The Age - ‎14 hours ago‎
NEARLY 3000 passengers and crew were quarantined on a cruise ship in Sydney Harbour yesterday due to a swine flu scare, before being allowed ashore but ...
Swine Flu Diagnosed In Cruise Ship Crew Member SmartAboutHealthBoston (SmartAboutHealth) - It is being reported that a crew member working aboard the Serenade of the Seas cruise ship has been diagnosed with swine flu.
The ship was cruising through the waters of Alaska at the time of the diagnosis, making this case the first to be reported in the state.

Crew member aboard a cruise ship in Alaska waters is recovering from what health officials suspect is swine flu

seattletimes.nwsource.com

Swine flu suspected in crew member on cruise ship

By MARY PEMBERTON
Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska —
A crew member aboard a cruise ship in Alaska waters is recovering from what health officials suspect is swine flu.
The female crew member of the Serenade of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship, became ill May 2 while sailing from San Francisco northward. The woman was isolated two days later and was treated with antiviral medication, Dr. Jay Butler, Alaska's chief medical officer, said Sunday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified Alaska health officials over the weekend that there was a probable case of swine flu aboard the ship.
Testing was performed at the Washington State Public Health Laboratory and forwarded to the CDC. The CDC is in the process of validating the results, which were expected Monday.
In the meantime, the state conducted its own testing on a sample taken in Ketchikan when the ship docked there. That sample was sent Friday to the new virology lab at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and came back negative on Saturday.
Those results were not a surprise, Butler said, because the woman had already been three days on Tamiflu, an anti-viral medication effective against swine flu, and for several days had no fever.
The swine flu has been blamed for 53 deaths worldwide, including 48 in Mexico, three in the U.S., one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.
Confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization and CDC are more than 4,500 in 29 countries, including at least 1,626 in Mexico, at least 2,532 in the United States and 280 in Canada.
On April 18, before embarking for Alaska, the Serenade of the Seas departed San Juan, Puerto Rico. During the 14-night Panama Canal voyage it visited Huatulco and Acapulco, Mexico.
On May 2, the ship departed San Francisco for a 14-night voyage to southeast Alaska and Canada.
No other cases of suspected swine flu have been diagnosed aboard the ship.
Butler said the ship's medical staff followed strict isolation procedures to prevent the spread of the illness.

The pirates would have boarded had some passengers not fought them off with chairs being thrown overboard as they were clambering up the side

Kiwi slams security in pirate attack.
/tvnz.co.nz
One of the New Zealander passengers on board a cruise ship attacked by pirates says the danger of the situation has been down played to the media by the ship's captain.
The MSC Melody was over 900 kilometres off the Somali coast last Saturday, with 62 New Zealanders on board, when it was attacked.
Passenger Lorraine Adams told her mother, Barbara Newton from Nelson, in an email there was a lot to be disclosed when the ship docked as "really and truly, security weren't expecting this", the Sunday Star Times reports.
"The pirates would have boarded had some passengers not fought them off with chairs being thrown overboard as they were clambering up the side but then security of ours started the gunfire and, of course, pirates from their boat were letting us have it as well," she emailed.
"Captain said he took 4000 phone calls from CNN, NBC, BBC and of course every possible radio and TV station from around the world but everyone feels he has covered his own backside re security on that night."
The ship's captain, Ciro Pinto, said afterwards the attack had felt like "war".
One passenger and one crew member were injured by broken glass from windows shattered by gunfire, but the other 990 passengers were not injured. MSC Cruises chief executive Pier Francesco Vago said the ship's radar did not pick up the speed boat used by the pirates and it had arrived unexpectedly.
When bullets were fired the captain realised they were under attack and crew herded passengers into their cabins and got them to switch their lights off, he told Radio New Zealand last week.
He played down reports of security staff on the ship having had a shootout with the pirates.
The captain had zig-zagged the ship, the crew had sprayed the pirates with hoses and fired two warning shots in the air and the pirates had given up, Vago said.
A Spanish warship had intercepted a skiff carrying nine suspected Somali pirates believed to have attacked an Italian cruise ship

While rare, pirate attacks on cruise ships a cause for concern

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30442086

by Michael Ventre
msnbc.com contributor
updated 9:45 a.m. ET, Tues., April 28, 2009

On Saturday night, the Italian cruise ship MSC Melody, with 1,500 passengers aboard, was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Thanks to private Israeli security forces on the cruise ship who fired at the pirates, the assault was thwarted and the marauders were driven off.
Last December, the Oceania luxury cruise ship Nautica took evasive measures and outran a pirate ship off the coast of Yemen. In 2005, the Seabourn cruise ship Spirit, carrying 150 passengers and a crew of 160, was approached by two small boats filled with pirates armed with assault rifles and a grenade launcher. The captain of the Spirit took responsive action, even trying to ram one of the pirate boats, before eventually outrunning the bandits.
While pirate attacks on commercial ships have become more frequent of late, assaults on cruise ships remain rare. Still, rare is enough to cause some concern...
...Last year, more than 130 merchant ships were attacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, an increase of more than 200 percent from the previous year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Earlier this year, to step up security in the region, the CTF 151, a counter-piracy naval force, was formed by the U.S. (It recently turned over command to Turkey.) That is the fourth such naval group in the region, joining those sponsored by the European Union, NATO and the French.

Cruise lines cancel Mexico stops over flu fear

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97RO6K85&show_article=1
MIAMI (AP) - At least three cruise lines have canceled stops at popular ports in Mexico over concerns about swine flu, while those that haven't are assuring passengers the ships are clean and risk is low because most reported illnesses there are inland.
Travel agents say customers are still booking trips that include visits to destinations like Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan, but those itineraries are likely to change if the outbreak gets much worse. The federal government has warned against nonessential travel to Mexico.
Jennifer Michaels, an Atlanta real estate broker, is stocking up on antiseptic wipes ahead of a five-day Carnival Cruise Lines voyage leaving Miami on Thursday.

She hoped Carnival would skip a planned stop in Cozumel, but said she and her friends would go even if it didn't. "We'd probably still go and then just stay on the ship if they stop," she said. "I don't know if that would do any good anyways, but that's what we'd do." Michaels got her wish. After cancelling three scheduled stops in Mexico on Tuesday, the company said it would suspend all calls in the country for every ship now at sea and those leaving between Thursday and May 4.
Carnival is offering alternate ports on many trips, but will allow customers to reschedule if they wish.

Cruise lines: No plans to cancel calls in Mexico due to swine flu

www.usatoday.com

Several major cruise lines with ships sailing to Mexico this week say they have no plans to cancel or alter the voyages despite global worries about a potentially deadly outbreak of swine flu in the country.
Industry giants Carnival and Royal Caribbean both say in statements today they are monitoring the situation in Mexico but will go ahead with itineraries that include calls in the country over the next few days.
Four Carnival ships are scheduled to call on Mexican ports Tuesday: the Carnival Paradise and Elation in Ensenada, the Carnival Inspiration and Holiday in Cozumel.
"We do not anticipate that our guests' cruise experience will be impacted by this type of illness and will not be making any adjustments to our itineraries," the line said in an updated statement issued late Monday. An earlier version of the statement today had said there was no evidence of a pandemic.
ALSO ONLINE: Passenger describes coming under fire during pirate attackALSO ONLINE: USA TODAY's Veronica Stoddart blogs live from European river cruiseALSO ONLINE: The secret to shore excursions in the Mediterranean?
Royal Caribbean's statement noted it will conduct enhanced sanitizing of all high-touch areas on ships visiting Mexico and take other measures aimed at reducing the transfer of illness. Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas is scheduled to call Tuesday at Cabos San Lucas, Mexico.
A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises also tells USA TODAY the line plans to go ahead with calls in Mexico in coming days as several of its ships reposition to Alaska for the summer.
Two Princess ships, the Sapphire Princess and Coral Princess, are scheduled to call in Mexico on Tuesday -- in Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, respectively. Both ships have additional calls in Mexico scheduled for later in the week as does a third Princess ship, the Star Princess."We're taking extra precautions and will follow guidance from health authorities," Princess' Julie Benson tells USA TODAY. "Our ships and medical staff are well prepared to handle a contagious disease, and we'll also be stepping up screening."
Another major line that visits Mexico, Norwegian Cruise Line, already has finished its winter season of voyages to the country and doesn't have ships scheduled to call again until the fall, says a spokeswoman.
A spokeswoman for Celebrity Cruises tells USA TODAY the line, which is just finishing its winter season in Mexico, will go ahead with one final cruise to the country now underway. The Celebrity Infinity is scheduled to visit Huatulco, Mexico on May 5, Puerto Vallarta on May 7 and Cabo San Lucas on May 8.
As worries about the outbreak have grown since Saturday, a number of individual countries as well as the health commissioner for the European Union have urged citizens to postpone or cancel non-essential travel to Mexico. Many airlines, including Continental, American, United and USAirways are waiving penalties for customers who want to postpone trips.

Armed Guards and Cruise ship's security force fends off attack by pirates

news.scotsman.com

Published Date: 27 April 2009
By NICOLE WINFIELD
IN ROME
AN ITALIAN cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack 500 miles off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security force exchanged fire with the bandits.
The MSC Melody was 200 miles north of the Seychelles during a 22-day cruise from Durban to Genoa, Italy, when six men in a small, white boat approached at about 5:30pm on Saturday and opened fire with automatic weapons.Domenico Pellegrino, the cruise's director, said the pirates retreated after the security officers returned fire and sprayed them with water hoses. The ship then continued its journey, with windows darkened.None of the 1,000 passengers or 500 crew were hurt."It felt like we were in war," said Ciro Pinto, the ship's commander. "They tried to put a ladder up. They were starting to climb up but we reacted, we started to fire ourselves. When they saw our fire, and also the water from the water hoses that we started to spray, they left." Mr Pellegrino said all MSC cruise ships were staffed with Israeli security agents because they are "the best trained".This is not the first attack on a cruise liner. However, Saturday's exchange of fire between the Melody and pirates is one of the first reported between pirates and a non-military ship. But Andrew Mwangura, of the Mombasa-based East African Sea Farers Assistance Programme, said: "Having weapons on a passenger or merchant ship is dangerous. They should have used other means to shake off the pirates, like a loud acoustic device."MSC Melody is proceeding to the Jordanian port of Aqaba under the escort of a Spanish warshship.

news.bbc.co.uk
BBC: Italian cruise ship foils pirates

General Petraeus tells Congress that Ships should consider armed guards

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090425/ap_on_go_co/us_us_piracy
By LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes, Associated Press Writer – WASHINGTON – The global shipping industry should consider placing armed guards on its boats to ward off pirates who have become increasingly violent, the U.S. military commander who oversees the African coastline said Friday.
Gen. David Petraeus, who came to the Capitol to talk about a wide variety of issues, told a House committee Friday that just trying to outrun or block pirates from boarding cargo ships isn't enough to deter sea bandits off the Somali coast who are becoming more aggressive. The Pentagon is starting to study how to better protect merchant shipping, but hasn't yet come up with a formal plan. The shipping industry has resisted arming their boats, which would deny them port in some nations.

In response to questions from a House Appropriations subcommittee, Petraeus said defensive preparations short of armed guards "can work. You can have water hoses and others that can make it more difficult."
But in a wry tone, he added: "It's tough to be on the end of a water hose if the other guy is on the end of an RPG. So you've got to think your way through that calculation as well." An RPG is a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Naval forces from several nations currently patrol the waters that Petraeus described as many times the size of Texas. But he said there is no way for any military to be able to safeguard all commercial ships that ply those waters.

The region is one of the world's most crucial shipping lanes, with oil vessels and other merchant ships carrying billions of dollars worth of cargo. Authorities say pirates are well aware that ship owners have been willing to pay an average of $2 million ransom for each seized ship.
Petraeus said the Navy would continue to patrol the region, but added that some shippers in the past hadn't taken even basic steps to avoid pirates. "We started off by saying, 'If you just speed up, when the pirates approach you that will help. If you take evasive action, that's even better. And if you unbolt the ladder that allows the pirates to climb onto your ship before you set sail, you get extra credit for that,'" Petraeus said. "These were not being taken before."

Joe Cox, president of the Chamber of Shipping of America, cautioned that deploying armed guards aboard cargo ships could escalate violence if pirates expect a gunfight. "If you asked us two weeks ago, we would say, 'No guns on ships,'" Cox said Friday. "Now the reaction is, 'Let's talk.' That's not a ringing endorsement of going in that direction. But we know, under the current circumstances, something has to be done."
The Washington-based trade association represents 32 shipping companies. Cox also called on the government to remain committed to securing the high seas. "We don't want them to abrogate the responsibility," he said. Pirates have hijacked more than 100 ships off the Somali coast over the last year, including one in a dramatic standoff between pirates and the U.S. Navy earlier this month in the Indian Ocean. A U.S. sea captain was held hostage for five days before three of his captors were shot and killed by Navy SEALS. A fourth pirate is now being held in New York, where he awaits prosecution.