PIRACY UPDATE….Following a failed pirate attack on a cruise liner in the Gulf of Aden a few days ago, there were reports yesterday of yet another pirate attack on a cruise ship, the MV Athena en route to the Seychelles. But apparently not:
Grant Hunter, Australian managing director of Classic International Cruises, which operates the ship, today told ABC radio that no pirates had tried to board.
Mr Hunter acknowledged that as the Athena pulled up to the southern end of the Gulf of Aden, several tuna fishing skiffs loomed “some half a kilometre to three kilometres away” as the ship queued to enter a secure port area.
….”Under normal international security regulations, all the ships in that particular grouping put their fire hoses on board (and) activated those,” Mr Hunter said.
“The crew were spraying water off the side of the ship but at no stage did any of the skiffs attempt to get near the vessel, board the vessel. “They weren’t aggressive to the vessel.”
….He said that it was difficult to understand how the reports emanated, because passengers had been eyeing the tuna boats from afar with binoculars — and vice versa.
Tuna boats, eh?
