News

A cruise liner which left Dover on St Valentine’s Day, was yesterday steaming towards the safety of Salalah in Oman after it was reportedly attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The Metro website said that more than 1,000 Britons aboard the Fred Olsen Line ship, the Balmoral were ushered to safety late in the day as two small craft raced toward the cruise ship at high speed.

The news outlet quotes a spokeswoman for the line as saying the master of the Balmoral ordered passengers to 'safe havens' as part of a pre-planned safety procedure.

"Aggressive manoeuvring was implemented and contact was made with the EU Coalition Task Force," the spokeswoman added.

A US Navy ship raced to the scene and escorted the Balmoral as it weaved its way through the dangerous seas of the Gulf of Aden.

The Balmoral is scheduled to arrive in Oman today (5 March). The ship is on a three month cruise around the world that began last month in Dover.

In January, two passengers were injured when the ship was hit by ferocious storms in the Bay of Biscay and in February, a number of passengers were struck down by a vomiting bug.