Another Update: Pirates Capture US Ship, Hold Hostages | US Military Warships Now Dispatched
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 8, 2009
By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone
This hijacking story continues to be updated. At this point, the captain is still being held hostage by four remaining Somali pirates (many abandoned ship), and at least one US military warship has been dispatched. A crew member was being held hostage with the captain, but it’s not clear when/if the crew member has been released, or if the captain is also being referred to as a crew member. Reportedly, negotiations are being conducted with the pirates. Let us hope that those negotiations do not include an apology from our president directed to the pirates.
Here’s the most current accounting I could find about this hijacking:
US crewman: Somali pirates hold crewman hostage | Associated Press
By KATHARINE HOURELD – 33 minutes ago
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The American crew of a hijacked U.S.-flagged ship retook control of the vessel from Somali pirates Wednesday but a crew member was still being held hostage, according to the ship’s operator and another member of the crew. U.S. officials said American warships were heading to the hijack scene. A crew member aboard the vessel told The Associated Press that his shipmates were trying to rescue a crew member who was still being held.
Colin Wright, who identified himself as a third mate aboard the ship, said, “Somalian pirates have one of our crew members in our lifeboat and we are trying to recover that crew member.”
Asked whether that crew member was the ship’s captain, Collin told the AP he couldn’t say anything else. Earlier, a person aboard the ship told the AP by phone that it was the captain who was being held by the pirates.
At one point, the pirates had held the boat and the entire crew of Americans. Wright said: “We’re really busy right now, but you can call back in an hour or two.”
President Barack Obama was following the situation closely, foreign policy adviser Denis McDonough said.
“We are able to confirm that the crew of the Maersk Alabama has is now in control of the ship,” said Kevin Speers, a spokesman for Maersk Lines Limited. “The armed hijackers who boarded this ship earlier today have departed, however they are currently holding one member of the ship’s crew as a hostage. The other members of the crew are safe and no injuries have been reported.”
The ship was carrying emergency food relief to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was hijacked, the Copenhagen-based container shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk said.
It was the sixth vessel seized within a week, a rise that analysts attribute to a new strategy by Somali pirates who are operating far from the warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden.
Michelle Malkin: Latest Somali pirate hiijacking update: US warships and air assets on the way and Obama’s pirate problem; Update: US crewmen regain control?; Maersk will NOT confirm; 1 pirate reportedly in custody; captain still being held?
Threats Watch: Somali Pirates Seize US Ship
About the author
To deter pirates the international community should consider demolishing the homes where the families of pirates live. Israel has been doing this for some years now, apparently with success, to deter attackers.
Obama will apologize for American arrogance. He will bow to the pirates, beg for forgiveness, then give them stimulus money for their ramson.