Pirate ship docks in Seychelles

2005-11-07 13:06

Victoria - A cruise ship carrying hundreds of tourists, attacked by pirates near the coast of Somalia, arrived in Seychelles early on Monday after experts removed a grenade embedded in a passenger cabin.

The US-owned Seabourn Spirit docked at Port Victoria shortly after midnight and one of the crew members, who had sustained minor injuries in the attack on Saturday was taken to hospital, said Andre Cisseau, the head of Seychelles Port Authority.

He said experts from the American warship USS Gonzalez and the Seychelles Coastguard removed parts of grenade shell that had exploded, but not yet disintegrated.

"What was thought to be an unexploded ordnance (was) later discovered by experts to have exploded but had not disintegrated completely. It was removed and disposed of normally," Cisseau added.

Cruise liner outran attackers

He said the damage the luxury cruise ship suffered as a result of the attack didn't affect the vessel's operation systems.

After security clearance, British and Australian envoys in this Indian Ocean island as well an envoy from the US embassy in Nairobi - an indication that the tourists were from the three nations - entered the vessel.

Up to 19 Australian tourists were believed to be among the passengers on the ship, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in Sydney.

The Bahamian-flagged Seabourn Spirit was heading to the Kenyan port of Mombasa when the attackers in a small speedboat fired machineguns and a rocket launcher at the ship.

The cruise liner outran the attackers and changed course for the Seychelles islands in the Indian Ocean.

Authories said arrangements were under way for the tourists to fly back to their countries.

The National Union of Marine, Aviation and Shipping Transport Officers (NUMAST), based in London, called Sunday for the waters off Somalia to be declared a war zone while the International Maritime Bureau and US have warned ships against sailing there.

- SAPA