Triggered by growing pirate threats endangering safety of merchant ships, the Members of Cyprus Parliament have unanimously supported a bill, enabling the ships to have armed guards and use weaponry in order to defend themselves in case of pirate attacks, ITAR-TASS announced.

This is the first bill of its kind in the EU legislative system, applicable to all Cypriot-flagged ships and its main objective is to provide legislative framework that will protect merchant ship crews from different types of illicit acts, including attempts of kidnapping crew members.