Capt. Richard Phillips, master of the MV Maersk Alabama, smiles while participating in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, April 30, 2009 in Washington, DC. The committee is hearing testimony on recent attacks by pirates off the coast of Somalia.
Photograph by: MARK WILSON
Credit: AFP

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The US-flagged Maersk Alabama came under attack from automatic weapons early on Wednesday morning some 350 nautical miles east off the Somali coast but the security team returned fire, the EUNAVFOR mission said in a statement.

"The crew managed to repel the attack and no casualties were reported," it said, adding that a patrol aicraft from Djibouti was sent to investigate.

A group of Somali pirates seized the Maersk Alabama, belonging to the Danish firm's US subsidiary Maersk Line Ltd, on 8 April.

On that occasion the 20-strong crew - who were unarmed - managed to wrest back control of the ship before the pirates fled, taking ship's captain Richard Phillips as a hostage.

He was freed five days later by the US navy in a rescue operation.

A week after the attack, the company's chief executive said it would reroute vessels to avoid the Red Sea and travel around South Africa's southern tip, citing concern for "the safety and security of our crews".