View full sizeSeen here in a file photo, the Maersk Alabama was attacked yet again Tuesday, March 7, 2011, by Somali pirates. It marks the third time the vessel, which is managed by a Mobile, Ala.-based firm, has been targeted while in the Indian Ocean. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)The Maersk Alabama -- known for the pirate attack of 2009 that led to the capture and subsequent dramatic rescue of its captain -- has been targeted by Somali pirates yet again, CNN reports.
Mobile-based International Shipholding Corp. handles the crew and provisions for the vessel. In the latest attack, 4 suspected pirates in a skiff approached the Maersk Alabama with a hook ladder but were rebuffed Tuesday by warning shots.
The Maersk Alabama now reportedly is headed to the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa.
This marks at least the third reported attack on the Maersk Alabama by pirates in the Indian Ocean.
The most high-profile attack too place in April 2009, when pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama and took hostage its captain, Richard Phillips. Phillips was held at gunpoint in a lifeboat for 5 days before being freed by Navy SEAL sharpshooters. Three pirates were killed in the daring nighttime attack.
Neither company has commented on the litigation.
A second attack on the Maersk Alabama took place in November 2009, when Somali pirates were turned back with gunfire, and no one was taken hostage or harmed. In that attck, 4 suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship, firing on it with automatic weapons from about 300 yards out before being repelled. Security personnel used guns and a device that emits ear-splitting sound, among other items, according to the U.S. Navy.
After the first, most high-profile Somali pirate attack, some of the ship's crewmen subsequently filed suit in Texas against Maersk Line Ltd. and International Shipholding subsidiary Waterman Steamship Corp., alleging the companies at that time were negligent in sending the ship into known pirate territory with inadequate protection.