Italian cruise ship fends off pirates

August 10th, 2009 10 Italians freed by Somali piratesROME —Ten Italian sailors whose tug was seized by Somali pirates four months ago in the Gulf of Aden have been released after the pirates abandoned the ship, Italian authorities said Monday. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Sky-TV24 that the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke notified him directly of the release in a phone call Sunday evening.

August 10th, 2009 10 Italian sailors freed by Somali piratesROME —Ten Italian sailors whose tug was seized by Somali pirates four months ago in the Gulf of Aden have been released after the pirates abandoned the ship, Italian authorities said Monday. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Sky-TV24 that the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke notified him directly of the release in a phone call Sunday evening.

May 6th, 2009 Somali pirates seize German-owned shipNAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates have seized a German-owned ship with its 11 Romanian crew members in the Gulf of Aden, a U.S. Navy spokesman said Wednesday.

May 6th, 2009 Somali pirates hijack German-owned shipNAIROBI, Kenya — A U.S. Navy spokesman says Somali pirates have hijacked a German-owned ship with its 11 Romanian crew members in the Gulf of Aden.

April 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After successfully combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden and indicating its growing footprint in the Indian Ocean, the Indian Navy has foiled a piracy bid off the island nation of the Seychelles and arrested nine pirates, an official said. 'Our ship INS Nirdeshak, along with a French warship and Spanish frigate, intercepted and arrested nine pirates while they were trying to hijack Italian cruise liner MS Melody.

April 28th, 2009 MADRID - An Indian warship along with a French warship and a Spanish frigate intercepted and arrested nine alleged pirates suspected of attacking the Italian cruise ship MS Melody, media reports said. The operation took place Sunday north of the Seychelles when the alleged pirates were detected near the position where the attack on the MS Melody took place late Saturday.

April 28th, 2009 MOSCOW - The crew of a Russian tanker has successfully repelled an attack by pirates off the Somali coast, the Russian maritime journal Sovfrakht reported Tuesday. The NS Commander tanker, partly owned by Russia's Novoship company and sailing under the Liberian flag, was attacked Monday by three pirate boats about 120 miles east of the Yemeni island of Sokotra.

April 26th, 2009 Cruise ship fends off pirate attack with gunfireNAIROBI, Kenya — The small white skiff approached the Italian cruise ship Melody after dinnertime as it sailed north of the Seychelles, the pirates firing wildly toward the 1,500 passengers and crew on board. What the pirates didn't expect was that, in the darkness, the crew would fire back.

April 26th, 2009 Report: Italy cruise ship fires on Somali piratesROME — The commander of an Italian cruise ship says his crew successfully fended off an attack by pirates off Somalia, returning fire when the pirates attacked. Cmdr. Ciro Pinto tells Italian state radio that he ordered his security forces to return fire when six men in a small white boat opened fire on the Msc Melody on Saturday night.

April 26th, 2009 HAMBURG/ROME - An Italian cruise ship carrying 1,200 passengers was able to fend off a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia, according to media reports Sunday. MS Melody, chartered by the Italian cruise company MSC Crociere S.A., was attacked late Saturday by six pirates wielding Kalashnikov machine guns.

April 26th, 2009 Italy cruise ship fires on Somali piratesROME — An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits and drove them away, the commander said Sunday. Cmdr. Ciro Pinto told Italian state radio that six men in a small white boat approached the Msc Melody and opened fire Saturday night, but retreated after the Israeli security officers aboard the cruise ship returned fire.

April 11th, 2009 NAIROBI - Pirates hijacked a US tugboat sailing under an Italian flag off the coast of Somalia four days after the failed attempt to capture the US commercial ship Maersk Alabama, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported Saturday. Citing maritime industry sources, the BBC said the tugboat with a crew of 16 was towing two barges at the time of the attack.

March 22nd, 2009 MUMBAI - An Indian ship, which was hijacked off the coast of Somalia, has been released today, by the pirates. The ship had 16 Indians onboard.

March 20th, 2009 ATHENS - Pirates seized a Greek-owned cargo ship off the coast of Somalia late Thursday, Greece's merchant marine ministry said. The Saint-Vincent-flagged cargo ship Titan, with 24 crew, was loaded with steel and was reportedly sailing from the Black Sea when pirates seized the ship off Somalia.

January 1st, 2009 SANAA - Somali pirates have released a second Yemeni fishing ship without ransom, more than two weeks after they hijacked the two ships in the Gulf of Aden, the commander of Yemen's coast guard force said in remarks published Friday. Brigadier General Ali Ahmed Rasi told the state-run al-Thawra daily that the pirates freed the MV Qana'a without receiving any ransom.