Cruise-Ship Outfit Flies Passengers Around Pirates

Passengers will evacuate a German cruise liner and fly over the troubled waters off Somalia’s pirate-infested coast to avoid being the next victims of a maritime attack, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Hapag-Lloyd ship, slated to reach Yemen today, will travel empty through the Gulf of Aden and pick 246 travelers back up in Oman.

Germany issued a travel advisory as the European Union’s armada readied a defense against the pirates, who recently switched from attacking cargo vessels to cruise ships. An American cruise line confirmed a failed attack by pirates earlier this month. To avoid a similar incident, Hapag-Lloyd will have its passengers spend three days in Dubai before putting them back aboard. (More pirates stories.)