April 11, 2009
Hostage Standoff: Pirates Repel Sailors Attempting To Reach Captain PhillipsUpdate: Captain Phillips Was Freed!!!!!
F**k ya!, see Breaking: Captain Free, Three Pirates Dead, One Captured
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Pirates off the eastern coast of Africa fired on U.S. sailors Saturday as they tried to reach the lifeboat where an American captain is being held, a U.S. official familiar with the situation told CNN.Also noted in the article Captain Phillips appears to be tied up.The gunfire forced the sailors, who did not return fire, to turn back, the official said.
The incident took place some 12 hours ago as the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge sent a small team toward the lifeboat, said the official.
One of the bastages hijacked ships they were using to help their buds was turned back today. heh
The German ship Hansa Stavanger(pictured) was among several pirated vessels trying to sail to the area some 300 miles off the Somali coast, a Somali journalist told CNN.The pirate crew had intended to help the pirates holding Phillips but turned back because of the U.S. naval presence, the journalist said. The Hansa Stavanger is now at the Somali port of Eyl, the journalist said.
A third ship, the Wasp clasp amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (pictured), should be arriving shortly to join the USS Bainbridge and USS Halyburton.
As I noted before, the last thing we need is the pirates taking Captain Phillips to the Somalia mainland. A former Somali pirate hostage, Telegraphs foreign correspondent Charles Freeman, had this to say:
Had the pirates got the sailors onto the Somali mainland, it could have been the worst US hostage crisis since the storming of the American Embassy in 1979.I would imagine al-Shabaab is salivating at the thought of taking Phillips as their hostage.There are, after all, plenty of Somalis who'd have been willing to pay the pirates good money for their catch - not least the hardline al shebab Islamist movement[? U.S. designated terrorist organization..ed], whose alleged[?] links to al Qaeda have seen them targeted by US missiles.
I hope and pray this ends soon and Captain Phillips is reunited with his family.
Update: According to this story the lifeboat does have fuel. It was reportedly earlier it didn't. Unsure which is true:
[...]Sources added that, contrary to earlier news reports, the pirates had fuel on the lifeboat and had used it to move within 20 miles off the African coast.Not good if true.
Update II: Below the fold:
From the original link:
Maersk also announced today it had set up an e-mail address "where concerned persons from around the world may send messages of support for the captain, crew and families of the Maersk Alabama."People were invited to send their thoughts to maersklinelimited.com
"We would like to recognize all the expressions of support received already," the company said as it disclosed the e-mail address Saturday.
