Pirates attack cruise ship

last updated 8 January 2015

Off of Somalia

Five men in a small boat fired grenade launchers and machine guns at a U.S. cruise ship off the coast of Somalia this week. One member of the crew was wounded. The Seabourn Spirit, owned by a subsidiary of Carnival, was heading from Egypt to Kenya when the pirates intercepted it. Passengers, who hit the deck as bullets rained around them, said the gunmen were smiling as they fired. “It was a very frightening experience,” said passenger Charles Supple. The cruise ship crew blasted a sonic weapon at the pirates, immobilizing them, and then revved up the engines to outrun them.