A US container ship approaching the Suez Canal has opened fire on a small Egyptian motorboat, killing one man and wounding two others, reports say.
The Global Patriot, carrying used US military equipment, was in the Gulf of Suez when it was approached by a motorboat selling local merchandise.
Its crew apparently fired after the boat failed to heed warnings to stop when asked, the US navy said.
It added that it was in contact with Egypt through the US embassy in Cairo.
As many as 100 other local vessels are said to have gathered at the scene, carrying hawkers demanding an inquiry.
Some 7.5% of world sea trade passes through the Suez Canal, which is 190km long (118 miles) and 120m wide (395ft) at its narrowest point.
Military charter
It was after sunset on Monday when a motorboat carrying three local Egyptian traders approached the Global Patriot in the Gulf of Suez as it prepared to sail towards the Mediterranean, according to Egyptian officials.
Map
The Global Patriot's crew are reported to have ordered the motorboat to stop and when it did not, they opened fire, killing Mohammed Fouad and wounding two others, the officials added.
A US naval spokeswoman, Cdr Lydia Robertson, said that the Global Patriot had warned the small boats to turn away "via bridge-to-bridge radio and a series of warning steps".
"One small boat continued to approach the motor vessel, which then reportedly fired warning shots."
Confirming that the incident was under investigation, she added:
"Fleet authorities are working cooperatively with Egyptian authorities through the US Embassy in Cairo."
Cigarettes
A spokesman for Global Container Lines told the Associated Press that he had no information about the incident.
According to the US Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC), the Global Patriot is a US-flagged roll-on, roll-off container ship chartered from Global Container Lines.
In the past, it has been used by the MSC to transport a US military Patriot Missile defence battery, ammunition, and MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles around the world.
On this occasion, the Global Patriot is said to have been transporting used US military equipment from Dubai.
The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says fisherman and small boats carrying hawkers ply the waters of the canal trying to sell cigarettes and other local products to ship passing through.
It is not clear why those on board the Global Patriot opened fire.
Al-Qaeda militants have in the past used small motorboats to attack US military and other foreign vessels in waters off the coast of Yemen, our correspondent adds.
This is interesting, since in most merchant marines -- the US included-- ships do not carry weapons of any sort. I've been in the industry for 24 years now, and despite the increased focus on security, we are not allowed to carry so much as a potato gun.
"Of course, what would really happen is that in Game 7, with the Red Sox winning 20-0 in the 9th inning, with two outs and two strikes on the last Cubs batter, a previously unseen meteor would strike the earth, instantly and forever wiping out all life on the planet, and forever denying the Red Sox a World Series victory..."
Those gun nuts do not understand the meaning of "overkill," and will simply use weapon after weapon of mass destruction (WMD) until the monster is dead, or until they run out of weapons.
They have more WMD than there are monsters for us to fight. (More insanity here.)
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
No means no. They must have thought they were hitting on some woman in a bar.
Didn't these Egyptian idiots have any idea what they looked like, racing up to them in a small boat?
This is just Darwin in action.
"The 4th Earl of Hereford led the fight on the bridge, but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic."'
KlavoHunter wrote:No means no. They must have thought they were hitting on some woman in a bar.
Didn't these Egyptian idiots have any idea what they looked like, racing up to them in a small boat?
This is just Darwin in action.
Yeah, especially when:
A US naval spokeswoman, Cdr Lydia Robertson, said that the Global Patriot had warned the small boats to turn away "via bridge-to-bridge radio and a series of warning steps".
"One small boat continued to approach the motor vessel, which then reportedly fired warning shots."
Justified shooting or not, those in the motorboat were complete idiots to continue after that.
STGOD: Byzantine Empire Your spirit, diseased as it is, refuses to allow you to give up, no matter what threats you face... and whatever wreckage you leave behind you.
Kreia
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Were the messages in Egyptian in the first place.
Don't modern Egyptians speak Arabic?
Anyway, aren't warning shots the universal 'don't come any closer' signal?
Right now it's probably premature to be making judgments either way as we don't really know many facts.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Were the messages in Egyptian in the first place.
Don't modern Egyptians speak Arabic?
Anyway, aren't warning shots the universal 'don't come any closer' signal?
Right now it's probably premature to be making judgments either way as we don't really know many facts.
Yes, they do, and yes, they are.
Let's face it, the area is so rife with piracy that shoot first, ask questions later is legitimate--it's like driving a truck filled with glocks around in Detroit. Wouldn't you want an armed guard on top with orders to shoot if a guy comes close than five feet?
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
AP now reports that according to the US embassy in Cairo "all shots were accounted for as they entered the water" and that no-one was killed or injured in the incident. The US Navy claims the same.
