Warning shots deter pirate attack on Maersk Alabama

Eu Navfor says a suspected pirate skiff yesterday approached the Maersk Alabama but turned back after a security team onboard fired warning shots.

Fox News quotes Wing Cmdr. Paddy O’Kennedy as saying today that the Maersk Alabama was approached by a skiff about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Madagascar. No shots were fired by the suspected pirates.

Tuesday’s incident was classified as a suspicious approach rather than an attack. The Maersk Alabama has been attacked twice in the past, most notably in the 2009 incident in which pirates boarded the ship and held Captain Richard Phillips hostage on a lifeboat for five days until three pirates were shot dead by Navy SEALs.

March 9,2011