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Pirates Force Cruise Evacuation

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• File: The MS Columbus cruise ship is seen passing through the Suez canal in Ismailia, Egypt. German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd said that the MS Columbus will evacuate passengers before sailing through waters off the Somali coast and fly them to the next port of call to protect them from possible pirate attacks. The ship will drop off its 246 passengers at the port of Hodeidah in Yemen, before the ship and some of its crew sail through the Gulf. The passengers will take a charter flight from there to Dubai and spend three days at a five-star hotel waiting to rejoin the vessel in the southern Oman port of Salalah for the remainder of a round-the-world tour that began in Italy.
• File: The MS Columbus cruise ship is seen passing through the Suez canal in Ismailia, Egypt. German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd said that the MS Columbus will evacuate passengers before sailing through waters off the Somali coast and fly them to the next port of call to protect them from possible pirate attacks. The ship will drop off its 246 passengers at the port of Hodeidah in Yemen, before the ship and some of its crew sail through the Gulf. The passengers will take a charter flight from there to Dubai and spend three days at a five-star hotel waiting to rejoin the vessel in the southern Oman port of Salalah for the remainder of a round-the-world tour that began in Italy.
• Dec. 9: Dutch cargo ships the MV Stolt Innovation, in the foreground, and the MV Stolt Helluland, in the background, seen from the rear of Dutch warship de Ruyter in the Gulf of Aden. De Ruyter is escorting the two ships and another Dutch cargo ship, the MV Jumbo Javelin, through the Gulf of Aden, which has become the world's top piracy hotspot this year.
• Dec. 9: Dutch cargo ships the MV Stolt Innovation, in the foreground, and the MV Stolt Helluland, in the background, seen from the rear of Dutch warship de Ruyter in the Gulf of Aden. De Ruyter is escorting the two ships and another Dutch cargo ship, the MV Jumbo Javelin, through the Gulf of Aden, which has become the world's top piracy hotspot this year.
• Dec. 4: A French Navy officer from the EPE, an embedded protection team, is seen aboard the French luxury yacht 'Le Ponant' checking the horizon using binoculars while a Lynx helicopter is about to land on French anti-submarine frigate 'Jean de Vienne,' as part of the 'Atalante' protection mission of ships in the gulf of Aden, off Somalia's coasts. About 50 cargo ships travel daily through the Gulf of Aden, a strategic waterway that links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
• Dec. 8: Dutch navy Lt. Cmdr Dick Van der Neut, left, takes notes as he discusses the journey, with Anton van Koldam, second right, the Dutch captain of Dutch cargo ship MV Jumbo Javelin. Dutch warship De Ruyter is escorting the MV Jumbo Javelin through the Gulf of Aden, which has become the world's top piracy hotspot this year.