An American luxury passenger line en route to the Seychelles is stranded in the Maldivian waters due to “piracy risk”, while the passengers depart to the Seychelles through airline flights.
Secretary General of Maldives Association of Yacht Agents (MAYA), Mohamed Ali, told Minivan News on Sunday that the passenger line had arrived on December 29 and was scheduled to leave the same day after a brief stop near Male’.
However, he said the cruise captain had decided not to leave with the passengers on board due to “security reasons”, as there have been several attacks by pirates near the Seychelles.
“To avoid the risk, the 67 passengers on board were taken to Seychelles via Qatar Airways and Emirates last week,” Ali said.
As the passenger line is subjected to a daily fee of US$600 as long as it stays in Maldivian waters, he continued, “we are trying to send off the passenger line as soon as possible.”
He noted that the crew is taking the necessary security measures to ensure safety from a possible pirate attack.
“There are some maritime security companies which provide security to large cruises or shipping vessels like these. So the passenger line is arranging security before departure,” he said.
Pirate activity is predicted to be higher during November to February, with the increased number of cruise ships and yachts travelling this time of the year, according to Ali.
Meanwhile, due to increase in the pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean and the frequent encounters with Somali castaways in Maldivian territory, maritime experts have speculated that the piracy threat is growing in Maldives.
However, the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) has steadily countered that the country’s territorial waters have not come under direct attack from piracy originating in Somalia.
MNDF Spokesperson Major Abdul Raheem earlier told Minivan News that despite small vessels originating from Somalia washing up in the Maldives’ territorial waters – often with engineering problems – no reported attacks or activities linked to piracy were believed to have occurred in the country.
According to the Foreign Ministry, 37 Somali “castaways” are under police custody and are waiting for repatriation. They had been joined by three other Somalis, discovered last month on board a small dinghy drifting near Gaaf Alifu Atoll.
Potential pirate threats remain a major problem in ensuring the security of the archipelago, which depends on tourism for as much as 90 percent of its economy.
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Somali pirates have been successfully charged with "intent to commit piracy" and it is time that the Maldives enact laws to do the same. Tourism is our golden egg, our life blood. We need to expand into the Yacht market by revising the system. And dealing with the piracy issue is part of what that revision calls for.
As for a supposed "threat." No, there is no direct threat to the Maldives. But there is the indirect threat of this affecting our tourism options. Its time we stop ignoring these problems and approach them head on.
Oh good! They're near Seychelles? Excellent.
Stop calling it 'piracy'! ... it's terrorism at sea, no less than the downing of a plane or the bombing of a town or city. If we could get governments to look upon it as terrorism they may increase their response and hunt these people down ... either that or hope they attack an Israeli vessel and give them an excuse to sort it out!!
Al-Shabab are freedom fighters, and if they just happen to be sailing around Maldives, why shouldn't we invite them? Afterall, they are pious muslims who implement the shariah to its full extent in their country mashallah.
I invite all Somalians to come and enjoy Maldives.