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BERLIN (AP) — German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd says hundreds of
passengers on a round-the-world cruise will disembark before reaching
waters off Somalia and fly to Dubai to avoid pirates.The company
says the 150-meter (490-foot) MS Columbus and its crew will continue on
through the Gulf of Aden. Passengers will rejoin the vessel in Oman for
the remainder of a trip that began last month in Genoa, Italy.
A company spokesman said passengers would be transferred to planes, but would not comment further.
Pirates
off the Somali coast have recently started trying to take cruise
vessels. Last week the MS Nautica outran pirates that attacked it.
SOURCE: AP, Tuesday, December 09, 2008