The Italian cruise ship Melody was on its way to Aqaba in Jordan when it was attacked by a party of six pirates in a small speed boat and armed with Kalashnikov rifles.

Security staff onboard the ship returned fire and repelled the pirates, the ship’s captain Ciro Pinto confirmed to Italian news agency Ansa.

Petra Hansson at the foreign ministry in Stockholm confirmed that a Swedish man was among the 991 passengers and 536 crew when it came under attack.

The waters outside of Somali has become increasingly dangerous in recent months with a slew of attacks against shipping in the area. Most of the attacks so far have however been directed against commercial vessels.

The Swedish man onboard the ship sent a text message to his son in Sweden who in turn contacted the foreign ministry.

According to the son his father had boarded the ship in Cape Town and was on his way to Genoa in Italy when the pirates caught up with the cruise ship north of the Seychelles.