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‘I used ice pick to hit pirate and took him captive’

Crew of the ‘Maersk Alabama’ arrive in Mombasa and tell of battle with Somalis who attacked ship

By Daniel Howden in Mombasa

Captain Richard Phillips who is still held by the pirates

AP

Captain Richard Phillips who is still held by the pirates

The first dramatic details of the failed Somali hijacking aboard the Maersk Alabama were revealed last night as the US-flagged ship reached port amid tight security in Mombasa, Kenya.

Despite a barricade of shipping containers erected around the ship's berth on the orders of the CIA and the FBI, several of the crew, who fought off pirates on Wednesday, spoke of their ordeal.

The ship's engineer, A T M Reza, was identified as a hero as his crewmates explained he had taken one of the four Somali attackers captive after attacking him with an ice pick. "I hit him with it in the hand," said Mr Reza, a slight-looking man who said he was from Hartford, Connecticut.

The container ship, carrying food aid for East Africa, arrived with its captain still held hostage in a high-seas stand-off between Somali pirates in a lifeboat and a squadron of US warships.

One American crewman, who didn't give his name, criticised the fuss being made of the survivors while their captain was still being held.

"He's out there dying so we can live," he said, clearly upset.

Unhappy with the big reception, he came to the guard rail to berate the media. "You're a bunch of fucking leeches," he told reporters, before smashing a cup against one of the barricade of ship containers.

Another crewmate, who didn't give his name, later apologised and said that the stand-in captain had sent the man below decks.

William Rios, from New York, described the ordeal as a "nightmare" but said that after 23 years at sea the incident "ain't gonna stop me now".

Media from all over the world descended on East Africa's main port as interest remains high in the dramatic details of the historic first pirate attack on a US vessel in 200 years. The vessel was briefly taken over by Somali attackers before the crew fought back. In the confusion Captain Phillips was taken hostage, with the pirates retreating on one of the Alabama's lifeboats.

Less than an hour before the ship was due to arrive in Mombasa, metal containers were stacked into a high barricade, although officials said there would be no access to the American seamen until they had been debriefed by security officials.

Out on the Indian Ocean, a flotilla of US warships yesterday prevented local reinforcements from reaching the Somali pirates, who are drifting in a lifeboat on the high seas with the American sea captain being held hostage for a reported $2m ransom. Another detachment of pirates made a failed attempt to reach the lifeboat in a German-flagged container ship that was hijacked last month.

"We have come back to Haradheere coast. We could not locate the lifeboat," said one pirate on the German ship, who identified himself as Suleiman, talking to Reuters.

As the Indian Ocean stand-off threatened to enter its fifth day, frantic efforts were under way on the Somali mainland to avert a repeat of the bungled raid which earlier saw French forces storm a hijacked yacht.

Somali elders, said to represent the community of the four pirates who are holding Captain Richard Phillips, were determined to reach the scene "without any guns or ransom", to assist in a negotiated settlement.

Meanwhile, in Paris, authorities were forced to admit that it "could have been a French bullet" that killed Florent Lemaçon, whose yacht had been hijacked last weekend by Somali pirates while it was en route to Zanzibar. His wife and three-year-old child were among four hostages who were rescued when French commandos stormed the yacht, killing two pirates and arresting three more.

France's Foreign Minister, Hervé Morin, said: "There will be of course a judicial inquiry, therefore there will be an autopsy. We cannot of course exclude that during the exchange of fire between the pirates and our commandos, the shot [that killed Mr Lemaçon] was French."

Pirates have been involved in three failed attempts to board ships in the Gulf of Aden since Friday, highlighting the upsurge in sea attacks. In each case they were repelled with the help of fire-hoses directed at them from the decks of the commercial vessels. The same tactic was tried, and failed, during the five-hour pursuit of the Maersk Alabama.

Then, yesterday, came the first pirate success of the day, with the seizure of a US-owned tugboat with 16 crew, 10 of them Italian. There are now more than 280 seamen being held hostage by Somali pirates, many of them on the mainland.

More than one-third of them come from the Philippines and government officials were yesterday appealing for their countrymen not to be forgotten in the rush to save one American sailor.

"We hope that before launching any tactical action against the pirates, the welfare of every hostage is guaranteed and ensured," said Vice-President Noli de Castro. "Moreover, any military action is best done in consultation with the United Nations to gain the support and co-operation of other countries."

Since the deregulation of the international maritime industry, almost all of the estimated two million commercial seamen come from developing world countries, many of them from the Philippines and Pakistan. Only senior officers are likely to be from industrialised nations.

The Bow Asir, a Norwegian chemical tanker, was seized last month and released by pirates after a $2.4m (£1.6m) ransom was paid.

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Comments

question
[info]jaffgyp wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 08:10 am (UTC)
how is it that 3 to 4 ill-equipped 'pirates' in a little boat can so easily board a great big modern ship and overcome its presumably vastly superior, in numbers and equipment, crew?
Re: question
[info]belfastboy wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 10:02 am (UTC)
They are not ill-equiped. They have fast boats and a lot of weaponry, like RPGs, which the crew of the ships don't have. Then consider the sheer size of, say, a big container ship with only 20 crew. All the deck area can't be defended.
Re: question
[info]pennyrr wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 02:58 pm (UTC)
The crew are not armed, either. They can't be in international waters, unless they are registered to carry weapons and would have to stop in every port and be inspected if they did, under international maritime law.
So it's rather difficult for unarmed crews to fight back against pirates with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Think about it.
Somali's: Hedonistic capitalists or really something else!.
[info]blastarrbxiii wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 10:55 am (UTC)
These Somali criminals are making International goverments look very stupid.
And that is with Russian, Chinese, British, Indian and American warships patrolling the area.
As many as 15 to 20 warships at any one time.

A Taliban of the seas, who we are meant to believe are just in it for the money.
To fund some hedonistic lifestyle, big house, fast cars and a hareem of women, not something else!.

The Republic of Samali has a population of 10 million, mostly Sunni Muslims.
I wonder when these shipping companies pay off their ransom demands, how much Allister Qaeda gets out of it to fund their activities.

What are the poor old US to do now? What a dilemma, now this American captain has been kidnapped.
His family must be feeling very sad and upset about it.
Just a working man going about his business.



wrong result
[info]britfree wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 11:19 am (UTC)
if i had been a pirate ( HA HAR !!) , i would have immediately transfered the said amerikkkans to the mainland . the boat didnt matter, the cargo didnt matter ,the thing that mattered was having twenty odd enemies of the non white world under ones hand . to have given these yanquis such an easy victory is regrettable if not unforgivable .
Re: wrong result
[info]a7v wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 12:10 pm (UTC)
International law is preventing the solution of the pirate problem: It must be changed to allow the world's navies to shoot on sight and use lethal force at all times: The pirate bases must be bombarded and destroyed: This is always the way that pirates have been dealt with successfully throughout history.
Re: wrong result
[info]britfree wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 03:08 pm (UTC)
up the pirates ! ! long live the pirates ! down with amerikkka and their psychopathic gang
Re: wrong result
[info]pennyrr wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 03:04 pm (UTC)
Nice. Hope you're never in trouble abroad, "Britfree"
These are decent men, human beings, you are being so flip about. They're out earning an honest crust. They've done nothing wrong. Pity you think they deserved for some reason to be taken hostage. What kind of warped thinking is that? Really, you are to be pitied.
Re: wrong result
[info]britfree wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 03:56 pm (UTC)
amerikkkan rubbish is NEVER innocent,anyway how would you know anything about their honesty ? ,they might be amerikkkan marines in mufti B T W its never a capital , the brit that i'm free from is a sh*thole undeserving of capital letters .
Re: wrong result
[info]ggarlick46 wrote:
Monday, 13 April 2009 at 12:03 am (UTC)
The only sh*thole is you britfree.Im with the yanks on this one, they done good.Do not insult BRITAIN you piece of crap.Oh and learn to spell moron.
Re: wrong result
[info]pennyrr wrote:
Monday, 13 April 2009 at 09:09 pm (UTC)
"britfree" : Your pathetic name calling -- and incredibly moronic spelling-- says it all. This is a serious topic. Why don't you take your toys and go play games somewhere else.
CSI
[info]leonore35 wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 02:28 pm (UTC)
What on earth are these FBI people hoping to find on the ship?
We know who the persps. are they are sitting there on a lifeboat, holding the captain hostage
What more evidence do you need, are they going to get some sleazy lawyer to get them off on a technicality or because their "human rights" have been prejudiced?
The United Nations?
[info]tpaulson4 wrote:
Sunday, 12 April 2009 at 07:06 pm (UTC)
Go to the United Nations for permission to attack pirates? This ridiculous suggestion illustrates just how asinine it would be for the US to give up our sovereignty to an impotent bureaucracy... Military decisions made by committee are a sure path to defeat.

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