NAIROBI: An Italian cruise ship used guns and a firehose to beat off an attack by pirates off the east African coast, the vessel's captain said yesterday.

Pirates also freed a Yemeni-owned tanker, the Sea Princess II, yesterday, said a Kenyan maritime official that monitors growing piracy off Somalia.

Separately, the Turkish cruiser Ariva 3, with two British and four Japanese crew aboard, survived a pirate attack near the Yemeni island of Jabal Zuqar early yesterday, said Ali el-Awlaqi, head of the Yemeni El-Awlaqi Marine company said.