A LOCAL naturalist has described how a cruise ship he was working on had a near miss with Somali pirates.

Tim Earl was working as a nature expert on board the Hebridean Spirit as it attempted to navigate around the Seychelles, while avoiding pirates armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

On Assumption Island, Mr Earl (pictured), along with passengers from the ship, met tourists on a diving holiday from a nearby catamaran.

Several days after this, the 160 passengers and crew aboard the Hebridean Spirit learned that pirates had captured the tourists. Fifteen of them were dumped on a nearby island and the crew was taken hostage.

‘We saw the boat at Assumption, but by the time we had reached Seychelles its crew were in the clutches of the pirates,’ said Mr Earl.

‘Our first thought was for the poor people in the hijacking and sympathy for those concerned.

‘It was pretty scary stuff. We nearly didn’t go on to Aldabra [a nearby Seychelles island].

‘The captain received two warnings from the coastguard to say that pirates were active in the area but, after taking extra safety precautions, he decided to continue,’ he said.