Fired Upon By Bazookas, Italian Ship Fends Pirates Off With Water Hoses

[Bianca]

                                                     Italian ship repels pirate attack



                                         24- man crew unharmed after assailants open fire






 (ANSA)
- Genoa,
April 29, 2009

- An Italian merchant ship on Wednesday escaped an attack by suspected Somali pirates, five days after an Italian cruise ship also avoided being hijacked.

The Jolly Smeraldo was 300 miles south-east of Mogadishu when a small boat with seven pirates aboard approached it, according to reports.

The pirates fired at the vessel but none of the 24 crew - including 15 Italians - were harmed and the ship was able to make diversionary manoeuvres to escape.

The Jolly Smeraldo left Mombasa in Kenya on Tuesday and is headed for Jeddah in Saudi Arabia before returning to Genoa.

On Saturday the Melody cruise ship foiled an attack by suspected Somali pirates 200 miles north of the Seychelles.

The cruise company's CEO, Pier Luigi Foschi, said Wednesday that the Israeli security guards aboard the cruise ship had not been armed, despite reports that they fired on the pirates.

Foschi, the CEO of Costa Crociera, said the ship had instead been following ''recommendations'' by the United Nations' International Maritime Organisation as well as other cruise bodies that there should be no weapons on board passenger or merchant ships.

At the weekend, the captain of the Melody, Ciro Pinto, told the Corriere della Sera website that the crew had fended off the pirates by opening a high-pressure salt-water fire hose onto them as they tried to scale a ladder onto the deck before the security guards ''began firing''.

The Melody, with 1,500 people aboard, is now heading back to Italy after a 22-day cruise from Durban, South Africa, to Genoa.

A third Italian ship, the Buccaneer, was seized in the Gulf of Aden on April 11.

The ship's crew of 16, ten of whom are Italians, are still being held.

Pirates have stepped up activity in Somali waters in recent weeks, capturing or attempting to capture dozens of foreign ships.

[Bianca]

                                                  New pirate attacks on Italian ship


                                   Assailants armed with bazookas fended off with water hose






 (ANSA)
- Rome,
April 30, 2009

- An Italian merchant ship escaped two attacks by suspected Somali pirates on Thursday after successfully fending off another hijack attempt Wednesday.

On Thursday pirates armed with bazookas first approached the Jolly Smeraldo around 300 miles off the Somali coast at dawn in an attack that lasted for around an hour, according to Stefano Messina, the CEO of the company that owns the ship, Ignazio Messina & C Spa.

The 24-man crew, which includes 15 Italians, were able to ward off the pirates using diversionary manoeuvres and a high-pressure salt-water hose.

Pirates in two small boats launched a second attack two hours later but were again prevented from boarding by the crew, who were said to be unharmed.

The Jolly Smeraldo reported that the pirates continued to follow them at a distance after the second attack but have since disappeared off the radar.

The only military ship in the area is 100 miles away and there is no possibility of offering immediate assistance to the Italian ship, which left Mombasa in Kenya on Tuesday and is continuing on its way to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

''We're in touch with the ship and we're busy dealing with the emergency. The crew members are all well,'' said Messina.

On Wednesday the ship's crew fended off another attack 300 miles south-east of Mogadishu after a small boat with seven pirates approached it and opened fire.

Pirates have stepped up activity in Somali waters in recent weeks, capturing or attempting to capture dozens of foreign ships.

On Saturday the Italian-owned Melody cruise ship foiled an attack by suspected Somali pirates 200 miles north of the Seychelles using a salt-water hose to wash pirates off a ladder they were using to try to board the ship.

The Melody, with 1,500 people aboard, is now heading back to Italy after a 22-day cruise from Durban, South Africa, to Genoa.

A third Italian ship, the Buccaneer, was seized in the Gulf of Aden on April 11. The ship's crew of 16, ten of whom are Italians, are still being held.