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ATHENS, Greece

Armed with fire-arms and rocket-propelled grenades, pirates in three speedboats twice tried to board the Greek-flagged Kriti Episkopi off the Somali seaboard but were driven away when the crew turned fire hoses on them and EU aircraft scrambled from a nearby European Union naval flotilla to help, shipping circle and Greek government officials declared.

The attack came a day after Somali pirates seized an Egyptian cargo ship and its 28 crew in the waterway, one of the earth’s greatest part material sea routes.

Pirates attacked 111 ships around the Gulf of Aden in 2008, hijacking 42 of them and earning tens of millions in ransom. With the capture of the Egyptian tanker, 15 ships with more than 260 crew are still in the hands of pirates, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

The pirates have been able to operate in the same state successfully because Somalia has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and at another time turned on each other.

The captain of the Kriti Episkopi saw the pirates’ speedboats and, time he took evasive action, Greek authorities alerted the EU naval flotilla.

“An aircraft and a helicopter reached the ship very quickly, which scared the pirates off,” a Greek Merchant Marine Ministry speaker declared, speaking put on condition of anonymity. “A frigate also sped to the scene. Everything it being so that seems to be under control, but we remain vigilant.”

The 29 horde members were safe, and the tanker, carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to Greece, was not damaged, according to the ship’s operating company Avin International.

More than a dozen warships are patrolling betwixt the shores of Yemen and Somalia to put to proof to protect relating to traffic vessels in the key waterway, which links the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Countries as diverse as Britain, India, Iran, the United States, China, France and Germany have naval forces in the waters.

Also Thursday, a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked and a French warship thwarted some attack on a Panamanian cargo ship and captured several pirates.

Original text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008585698_pirates03.html?syndication=rss