Ship back in 'cruising' mode

2005-11-06 12:11

Miami - Seabourn Cruise Lines, one of whose luxury ships was attacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, will re-evaluate whether to continue cruises off the coast of Somalia following the attack, the company president said.

"We're obviously evaluating the situation now and we'll take that decision at a later point," Deborah Natansohn, president of the Miami-based company, told CNN television.

Natansohn said one person suffered minor injuries but the remaining passengers and crew of the vessel, the Seabourn Spirit, were "doing very well" and heading towards the Seychelles.

"I think they're pretty much back in cruising mode at this point," she said.

Natansohn described the attack as a "highly unusual incident."

"We don't know of any other time where a cruise ship has been attacked by pirates," she told CNN. "They generally tend to (attack) tankers and freighters that have very small number of crew on board.

"We do know, of course, that the Indian Ocean is an area that we have to be more alert, and we were traveling through the area in a high state of alert," she said.

"We train for all kinds of emergencies on cruise ships so we are prepared for anything," Natansohn added.

CNN quoted a passenger, Canadian Mike Rogers, as telling CNNRadio affiliate CKNW in Vancouver that the pirates were armed with machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

"The captain tried to run one of the boats over, but they were small boats, about 8m long," he said. "Each one had four or five people on it, and (the captain) said he was going to do anything to keep them from getting on board."

- SAPA