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Subject: Somali pirates attack US flagged vessel
Herald12345    4/8/2009 9:43:45 AM
Story: Pirates hijack ship with 20 Americans onboard Wed Apr 8, 2009 8:31am EDT By Daniel Wallis NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in the latest of a sharp rise in attacks off the Horn of Africa nation, officials said. Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, told Reuters the 17,000 ton Maersk Alabama had been seized off Mogadishu far out in the Indian Ocean, but all its crew were believed to be safe. Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk confirmed that the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama had been attacked by pirates about 500 km (300 miles) off Somalia and had probably been hijacked. The company said it had 20 American crew on board. The Maersk Alabama is owned and operated by Maersk Line Ltd, a Norfolk, Virginia-based subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk and the world's biggest container shipper. A Moller-Maersk spokesman said it had been carrying general goods to Mombasa from Djibouti when it was attacked. A U.S. naval spokeswoman in Bahrain, Lt. Stephanie Murdock, said a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned ship reported being attacked by pirates early on Wednesday about 280 miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia. In the latest wave of pirate attacks, gunmen from Somalia seized a British-owned ship on Monday after hijacking another three vessels over the weekend. In the first three months of 2009 just eight ships were hijacked in the busy Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia and the eastern Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal. Last year, heavily armed Somali pirates hijacked dozens of vessels, took hundreds of sailors hostage -- often for weeks -- and extracted millions of dollars in ransoms. MORE ATTACKS Foreign navies rushed warships to the area in response and reduced the number of successful attacks. But there are still near-daily attempts and the pirates have also started hunting further afield near the Seychelles. On Monday, they hijacked a British-owned, Italian-operated ship with 16 Bulgarian crew on board. Over the weekend, they also seized a French yacht, a Yemeni tug and a 20,000-tonne German container vessel. Interfax news agency said the Hansa Stavanger had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board. The pirates typically launch speed boats from "mother ships," meaning they can sometimes evade warships patrolling the strategic shipping lanes and strike far out to sea. They then take captured vessels to remote coastal village bases in Somalia, where they have usually treated their hostages well in anticipation of a sizeable ransom payment. Pirates stunned the shipping industry last year when they seized a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil. The Sirius Star and its 25 crew members were freed in January after $3 million was parachuted onto its deck. Last September, they seized a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33 Soviet-era T-72 tanks and other heavy weapons. It was released in February, reportedly for a $3.2 million ransom. Many of the pirates are based in northern Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, where the authorities called on Wednesday for more funds to tackle the gangs onshore. "It's better for the international community to give us $1 million to clear out the pirates on the ground, instead of paying millions of dollars to keep the warships at sea," Puntland's security minister, Abdullahi Said Samatar, told Reuters. COMMENT There is no such thing as a coincidence. Show weakness and the bandits will pounce. So test case. Is that idiot in the White House going to handle this well, or is he going to foul up? Place your bets. Continues:
 
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Herald12345    Source:   4/8/2009 9:45:41 AM
Reuters.

Story:

Pirates hijack ship with 20 Americans onboard
Wed Apr 8, 2009 8:31am EDT

By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates hijacked a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned container ship on Wednesday with 20 American crew on board in the latest of a sharp rise in attacks off the Horn of Africa nation, officials said.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, told Reuters the 17,000 ton Maersk Alabama had been seized off Mogadishu far out in the Indian Ocean, but all its crew were believed to be safe.

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk confirmed that the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama had been attacked by pirates about 500 km (300 miles) off Somalia and had probably been hijacked. The company said it had 20 American crew on board.

The Maersk Alabama is owned and operated by Maersk Line Ltd, a Norfolk, Virginia-based subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk and the world's biggest container shipper.

A Moller-Maersk spokesman said it had been carrying general goods to Mombasa from Djibouti when it was attacked.

A U.S. naval spokeswoman in Bahrain, Lt. Stephanie Murdock, said a U.S.-flagged, Danish-owned ship reported being attacked by pirates early on Wednesday about 280 miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia.

In the latest wave of pirate attacks, gunmen from Somalia seized a British-owned ship on Monday after hijacking another three vessels over the weekend.

In the first three months of 2009 just eight ships were hijacked in the busy Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia and the eastern Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal.

Last year, heavily armed Somali pirates hijacked dozens of vessels, took hundreds of sailors hostage -- often for weeks -- and extracted millions of dollars in ransoms.

MORE ATTACKS

Foreign navies rushed warships to the area in response and reduced the number of successful attacks. But there are still near-daily attempts and the pirates have also started hunting further afield near the Seychelles.

On Monday, they hijacked a British-owned, Italian-operated ship with 16 Bulgarian crew on board.

Over the weekend, they also seized a French yacht, a Yemeni tug and a 20,000-tonne German container vessel. Interfax news agency said the Hansa Stavanger had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.

The pirates typically launch speed boats from "mother ships," meaning they can sometimes evade warships patrolling the strategic shipping lanes and strike far out to sea.

They then take captured vessels to remote coastal village bases in Somalia, where they have usually treated their hostages well in anticipation of a sizeable ransom payment.

Pirates stunned the shipping industry last year when they seized a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil. The Sirius Star and its 25 crew members were freed in January after $3 million was parachuted onto its deck.

Last September, they seized a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33 Soviet-era T-72 tanks and other heavy weapons. It was released in February, reportedly for a $3.2 million ransom.

Many of the pirates are based in northern Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region, where the authorities called on Wednesday for more funds to tackle the gangs onshore.

"It's better for the international community to give us $1 million to clear out the pirates on the ground, instead of paying millions of dollars to keep the warships at sea," Puntland's security minister, Abdullahi Said Samatar, told Reuters.



COMMENT

There is no such thing as a coincidence. Show weakness and the bandits will pounce.

So test case. Is that idiot in the White House going to handle this well, or is he going to foul up?

Place your bets.

Continues:
 
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Wicked Chinchilla       4/8/2009 12:44:37 PM
Fox is reporting the crew have regained control of the vessel.  Not even enough time for a U.S. response.
 
Either way, awesome work, good on them. 
 
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Herald12345    Saw that.   4/8/2009 1:05:59 PM

Fox is reporting the crew have regained control of the vessel.  Not even enough time for a U.S. response.

 

Either way, awesome work, good on them. 

Hang the pirate from the sternpost of the freighter and then have the Navy trackback to the pirate mother ship; take prisoners just long enough to determine the homeport of the mother ship and then raze that port leaving no survivors, as in NO PIRATES or no seafarers out of there period. 

Stop the mickey mouse games and end this crap with force.
 
 
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Herald12345    Follow up.   4/8/2009 2:49:15 PM
The captain is still with the pirates. Will be a price. Somebody is going to die or a ransom paid. It isn't over.
 
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