Stuff happens..

[SparrowHawk62]

Maybe the USS COLE taught us something, never again let any type of ship, boat, floating sand hopper get to figgen close to a US Ship!

U.S. Navy Admits Ship In Suez Canal Killed An Egyptian

CAIRO: The U.S. Navy acknowledged Wednesday, and expressed regret, that an Egyptian citizen was killed when a ship working under contract for the navy fired warning shots at an approaching motorboat in the Suez Canal.

The Global Patriot, a civilian ship working for the navy,entered the Suez Canal on Monday and was approached at about 8 p.m. by small motorboats that try to sell goods to ships passing through. Sailors on the Global Patriot fired shots at the boats after issuing warnings to steer clear.

Egypt said that Mohammed Fouad was killed by bullets fired from the ship and was buried Tuesday.

"We express our deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased," Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, said in a statement issued to the media. "We are greatly saddened by events that apparently resulted in this accidental death. This situation is tragic and we will do our utmost to help take care of the family of the deceased."

Cosgriff added that an investigation was under way to determine what had happened.

Officials on the Global Patriot said Tuesday that all the shots it had fired had been accounted for and that there had been no casualties.

Fouad's family buried him Tuesday amid recriminations against the U.S. military and the Egyptian government.

A spokeswoman for the 5th Fleet, Commander Lydia Robertson, said: "We're concerned about doing the right thing and helping to take care of the family. We will work with an advocate, we will coordinate through the right
authorities and through the embassy."

The U.S. Navy has been wary of small boats approaching its warships since 2000, when Al Qaeda operatives killed 17 sailors on the Cole in Yemen, using a motorboat packed with explosives.

Robertson said the same rules of engagement as warships applied for ships under navy contract.

The merchants who ply the canal selling cigarettes and other products to passing ships normally know not to approach military vessels, said the victims brother, Abdallah. But he said that the Global Patriot had looked
like a civilian ship.