Maersk Alabama attacked again by pirates

[unhappycamper]

The U.S.-flagged cargo ship Maersk Alabama was attacked by Somali pirates for the second time Wednesday, but guards aboard the ship returned fire and repelled the takeover attempt.


Maersk Alabama attacked again by pirates
By Jason Straziuso - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 18, 2009 18:33:20 EST

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months and were thwarted by private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship who fired off guns and a high-decibel noise device.

A U.S. surveillance plane was monitoring the ship as it continued to its destination on the Kenyan coast, while a pirate said that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday with 28 North Korean crew members on board had died of wounds.

Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama last April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a daring nighttime attack.

Four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again on Wednesday around 6:30 a.m. local time, firing on the ship with automatic weapons from about 300 yards away, a statement from the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain said.

An on-board security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones, the fleet said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_navy_maersk_piracy_111809w/