The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Roberto Munao - The Associated Press This image shows the Italian cruise ship Msc Melody entering the port of Messina May 15. 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. 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. (AP Photo/Roberto Munao)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - 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.

In a new twist to the increasing scourge of Somali pirate hijackings, the private Israeli security forces aboard the MSC Cruises ocean liner fired on the pirates Saturday with pistols and water hoses, preventing them from clambering aboard, the company's director Domenico Pellegrino said.

"It was an emergency operation," Pellegrino told The Associated Press. "They didn't expect such a quick response. They were surprised."

Passengers were ordered to return to their cabins and the lights on deck were switched off. The massive vessel then sailed on in darkness, eventually escorted by a Spanish warship to make sure it made it to its next port.

"It felt like we were in war," the ship's Italian Commander, Ciro Pinto, told Italian state radio.

None of the roughly 1,000 passengers were hurt and by Sunday afternoon they were back out on deck sunning themselves, Pellegrino said.

But analysts say the unprecedented use of weapons by the ship's security force could make things worse in the pirate-infested waters off the Horn of Africa, where over 100 ships were attacked last year by Somalia-based pirates. In nearly all the hijackings, the crews were unharmed and were let go after a ransom was paid.

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