Reports: Italian cruise ship fends off pirate attack off Somalia, returning fire

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.

July 24th, 2009 Turkish commandos capture 5 pirates off SomaliaANKARA, Turkey — Turkish commandos captured five pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Friday as part of an international mission to curb piracy off the coast of Somalia, the military said. Navy commandos aboard the Turkish frigate TCG Gediz, part of a NATO patrol, raided the skiff after a request to block it before it could attack a ship, Brig.

July 10th, 2009 Bermuda rejects cruise ship gaming billHAMILTON, Bermuda — Bermuda lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have allowed cruise ship passengers to play gaming machines on vessels making port calls at night in the British Atlantic territory. Premier Ewart Brown's cruise ship gaming bill failed Friday in the House of Assembly by 18 votes to 11.

June 15th, 2009 Man rescued in Fla. after falling from cruise shipST.

April 29th, 2009 Report: Russian ship seizes 29 suspected piratesMOSCOW — Russian news agencies, citing the nation's Defense Ministry, say a Russian warship has seized a vessel with 29 suspected pirates on board off the coast of Somalia. RIA Novosti and other agencies say a Russian anti-submarine vessel seized the ship on Tuesday along with automatic rifles, pistols and ammunition found on board.

April 28th, 2009 Seychelles Coast Guard arrests 9 suspected piratesNAIROBI, Kenya — The Seychelles took custody of nine pirate suspects Tuesday and accused them of trying to hijack a cruise liner carrying 1,000 tourists. The island nation had dispatched an aircraft to trace the men through the Indian Ocean, resulting eventually in the capture of the suspects.

April 28th, 2009 9 pirate suspects arrested in cruise ship attackNAIROBI, Kenya — The Seychelles Coast Guard said Tuesday it had arrested nine suspected pirates believed to be behind the weekend attempt to hijack a luxury cruise liner carrying an estimated 1,000 tourists in the Indian Ocean. A coast guard statement said the nine arrived in a port of the Seychelles islands on Tuesday and were being held in a local jail.

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 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 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 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 HAMBURG/ROME - An Italian cruise ship carrying 1,500 passengers and crew was able to fend off a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia, the German subsidiary of Italian MSC Crociere confirmed Sunday. The ship was attacked at around 2035 Somali time (1735 GMT) Saturday evening by armed pirates firing shots from a small speedboat, 330 km from the Seychelles where it had last anchored.

April 22nd, 2009 VLADIVOSTOK - The Russian crew of a tanker in the Gulf of Aden prevented Somali pirates from boarding their vessel by using onboard fire hoses, a sailors' union spokesman in Russia's Far East said Wednesday. The Russian crew was delivering a brand new tanker, the Handytankers Magic, from China to Europe when Somali pirates approached it in the Gulf of Aden Sunday, firing a mortar shell that landed on the deck but failed to detonate.

April 19th, 2009 LONDON - Tickets for the cruise that is to follow Titanic's fateful route to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking ship has gone on sale and more than 100 cabins have already been booked. The bookings for the cruise opened on Apr 15, exactly 97 years after the Titanic was lost, reports the Telegraph.