Show Pirates attack cruise ship near Somalia Carol J. J Williams Los Angeles Times Pirates attacked a luxury luxury cruise ship off the Horn of Africa early Saturday waking passengers with a ad d daring sunrise rise gr grenades grenades' i d s' s Y and gunshots before the ships ship's crew outran the two boats carrying the assailants the Miami-based Miami cruise line reported None of the passengers aboard the Seabourn Spirit were injured in inthe inthe inthe the am a.m. assault although one crewman was hit by shrapnel and the ship sustained minor damage Seabourn Cruise Line spokesman Bruce Good said in Miami Charles Supple a retired Palm Springs Calif physician on board gave a dramatic account of the showdown showdown showdown show show- down in an mail e-mail to his son in Sacramento Calif shortly after the vessel reached safer waters The ship was en route from Egypt to Kenya and was sailing idyllically off the coast of Somalia when all hell broke loose he said The north coast of Somalia has been plagued for years by pirate attacks on cargo ships including several several several sev sev- eral recent raids on vessels carrying humanitarian aid to the torn strife-torn region But Saturdays Saturday's attack was a rare assault on a leisure vessel The captain came carne on the loudspeaker loudspeaker loudspeaker loud loud- speaker telling everyone that there were unfriendly vessels on the starboard starboard starboard star star- board side and to stay in our rooms The plink of bullets on the side was very noticeable Supple 78 said Supple said he had grabbed his Pirates Cont Cant on Page 5 Pirates Cont Cant from front camera and was peering out his stateroom window when he saw a pirate with witha a rocket launcher aim seemingly at me and fire What a flash I dove to the theother theother theother other side and the rocket hit two decks up and two staterooms forward The pirates about four or five in each of two 25 foot boats continued firing a i r ing to n s ship The e ca caa a q n e ed II all passengers to assemble in an interior lounge for safety and the ship accelerated accelerated accelerated toward the portside Supple recounted in what appeared to be an attempt to ram the assailants The ship then took off at full speed he said After 1 10 0 minutes or so though it seemed like hours we managed to pull away as I think they were running out of gas to make it back to the shore Supple said of the gunmen We suffered many broken windows and the rocket I Isake sake aY saw stuck stu in jn the side leaving leav- leav leav-ing leav big ing ab a a g lack area from the x Jo b bu damage Cruise industry officials praised the swift response of the member crew and its Norwegian captain Sven-Erik Sven Pedersen But they added that a thorough review and discussion about future operations in that area of the Indian Ocean will be undertaken This reaffirms some of the precautions weve we've taken in the past as relates to staying away from certain certain certain tain areas said Michael Crye president preside t of the International Council of Cruise Lines an I industry association based in ring on Va I But Butr I He fact that gunfire and pirates got close enough to even peripherally injure people that's a lot closer than wed we'd like them Crye noted the attack took place 70 miles off the Somali coast a distance usually considered safe from the bands of thieves who infest the area Just two days earlier the World Food Program had warned that piracy around Somalia was cutting off the flow of aid to the region because ship owners owners owners own own- ers were demanding armed escorts v ii V J good said the cruis cruise li line e kr know nothing know ow nothing about the attackers but officials presumed presumed presumed pre pre- their motive was robbery I |