According to reports, British maritime union called on Sunday for extra protection for ships traveling off the coast of Somalia in the face of an upsurge of piracy in the region. Two boats full of heavily armed pirates attacked a luxury cruise liner about 160 kilometers off the Somali coast Saturday and tried to get onboard. Andrew Linnington of the National Union of Marine Aviation and Shipping Transport, which represents merchant navy officers, said the union, known as NUMAST, was holding urgent talks with ship owners this week to discuss the problem of piracy off Somalia's coast, a situation he said was close to being out of control.