Aussie tells of terror of pirate attack

"Passengers were scared, some crying, others excited, annoyed and others in a state of shock that it had actually occurred."In a first-hand account, Australian David Nelson has described for the first time the horror on board Italian cruise ship MSC Melody as it was attacked by Somali pirates on Saturday.Despite some passengers' excitement that they were at the centre of a Somali pirate attack, Mr Nelson, 58, said it was "pure luck" no one was killed.The attack was thwarted only after passengers started throwing deckchairs at the pirates and then an Israeli guards team on board the Melody opened fire, the Gold Coast resident said.The night-time raid started about 11.30pm when pirates attached a rope ladder to the ship, said Mr Nelson, who was on-board with his wife, Gaye."The pirates actually had ropes attached to the port stern side of the ship and were climbing," Mr Nelson said."Luckily passengers spotted them and started throwing chairs at them."There was at least one boat with six in it, they were [of] dark complexion and spoke with French accents. [But] most passengers who were present believe there were two boats involved."Shots were fired at our ship smashing windows and bullets [were] hitting the side of the ship around pool deck level."A team of three Israeli security staff began firing back at the pirates, and they backed off, Mr Nelson said...more..http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/aussie-tells-of-terror-of-pirate-attack-20090429-amlw.html