Cruise company evaluates risks

Thursday, 07 Nov, 2005 0

Seabourn Cruise Lines, whose luxury ship was attacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean, 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.

“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.

The 10,000 ton Bahamas-registered vessel was sailing towards the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa, Kenya, on a 16-day cruise out of Alexandria, Egypt.

The vessel was yesterday sailing on to the Seychelles islands, where passengers were to disembark and fly to Mombasa. The ship is due to dock today.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said all the Australians were safe and speculated that terrorists might have been behind the attack. “I’ve sent a consular officer from Mauritius to the Seychelles to meet the ship so that the Australians on board … will have the opportunity to meet with our consul and we can provide any assistance they might need,” he said.

“We’re not sure whether in the early stages the ship will be able to tie up at the wharf there because of concern about an unexploded rocket that is embedded in some of the passenger accommodation of the ship,” Mr Downer told the Nine Network.

“American officials are going to board it initially to deal with that problem, and once that problem’s dealt with then our consular officer will be able to go on board as well.”

Graham Muldoon

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