Pirates and terrorists: Kudos to msc

[thesavvyoldlady]

The movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” is filled with excitement, adventure and romance. However, today’s real life pirates are terrorists and thugs who prey on ships entering “their” waters.

 

 

On April 25, 2009 the MSC Melody was sailing from Durbin, South Africa to Genoa, Italy when a small speedboat carrying 6 Somali pirates armed with assault weapons approached the side of the ship and opened fire. MSC Cruises immediately informed the Italian Government foreign office,The Maritime Security Center in London and the Coordination Center for Security in Dubaii. Captain Pinto Cira took evasive action and started a zig zag maneuver. The Melody’s security staff returned fire surprising the pirates and averting a possible hijacking. Thankfully no one was injured.

 

 

This incident has now caused a controversy among many who believe the Melody should not have returned fire. To their everlasting credit MSC officials, knowing they would be sailing in pirate waters, wisely took the precaution of arming their ship with a qualified security staff for the protection of all their passengers. Can we ever be too prepared? We all learned the hard way on 9/11 to be prepared for any situation.

 

 

There is no excuse for inaction and unpreparedness when it comes to the safety of passengers. The CEO of MSC has stated that they will no longer be sailing the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Perhaps, this will put pressure on neighboring countries that depend on cruise tourism to stop the piracy in their area. Hopefully it will also send a signal to would be terrorist-pirates who might be thinking of operating in other areas of the world.

 

 

This piracy is now limited to an isolated area of the world and cruising still remains the safest way to travel and enjoy. My husband, The Crabby Old Guy and I will continue to cruise. We believe cruise lines and the experienced Captains and crews they employ are well prepared to deal with these matters. Most importantly we do not want terrorism to grab a strangle hold on our freedoms and our lives.

 

 

What do you think?

 

Hugs,

The Savvy Old Lady

[AmoMondo]

I totally agree with you that they were right to return fire. My cousin and I just got back yesterday from the Fantasia and before we went my aunt was wittering on about we'd get attacked by pirates. We told her not to be daft because

a. we were sailing in the Med

b. pirates would not attack a cruise liner only cargo ships because there would be too may people onboard for them to overpower

 

Looks like we got the second part wrong! Thankfully for the passengers and crew, their security staff saved the day. Dread to think how it might have played out if they had not been so well prepared.

[cruz.n.carebear]

I would much rather be on a ship that has the ability to return fire on a pirate vessel while they were attempting to board the cruise ship than to be on one that didn't and have innocent lives lost!

 

Kudos to MSC

[snookymom]

I would much rather be on a ship that has the ability to return fire on a pirate vessel while they were attempting to board the cruise ship than to be on one that didn't and have innocent lives lost!

 

Kudos to MSC

I agree. Much better to be prepared than the alternative.