FOUR Somali pirates adrift in a lifeboat decided valour was the better part of discretion last night – as they maintained an extraordinary stand-off with a US warship armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The pirates, holding an American captain hostage, even defiantly demanded a $2 million ransom.
Hours after Captain Richard Phillips briefly escaped and attempted to swim to the USS Bainbridge, only to be recaptured, tensions increased with his kidADVERTISEMENTnappers issuing their demand.
The crew on board the USS Bainbridge, who have been negotiating with the pirates off the Horn of Africa, could only watch as Captain Phillips was hauled back inside before a rescue operation could be launched in the early hours of yesterday morning. In the waters off Somalia – where the centuries-old practice of piracy is given a 21st-century twist, with cannon and cutlasses replaced by rocket launchers and Kalashnikovs – the crisis deepened as both sides called up reinforcements.
It also emerged that a hostage was killed in a separate incident as the French navy stormed a yacht being held by pirates in the Gulf of Aden.
While General David Petraus, head of US Central Command, ordered more vessels to support the USS Bainbridge, other pirates sought to back up their comrades – who are stranded without power in the lifeboat – by sailing four other hijacked ships with 54 hostages on board to the scene of the stand-off.
The pirates' strategy is to link up with their comrades, who are holding Russian, German and Filipino hostages among others, and whisk Capt Phillips off to Somalia, which is lawless and has been without a government since 1991 and where they could then hide him and make it more difficult for the US navy to stage a rescue.
Yesterday a fellow pirate, speaking from Haradheere port, said the ransom was $2 million and added that other pirates were taking a hijacked German ship, with foreign crew on board, towards the scene in the Indian Ocean where the lifeboat is floating, watched by the US warships.
He said: "Knowing that the Americans will not destroy this German ship and its foreign crew, they (the pirates] hope they can meet their friends on the lifeboat."
The incident began on Wednesday when Capt Phillips, 53, thwarted the takeover of his 17,000-tonne US-based ship Maersk Alabama when it was attacked 311 miles off the coast. After a long struggle against the invading pirates, the crew members managed to regain control of the ship and it is thought Capt Phillips offered himself as a hostage in order to save his crew.
The four pirates left with their captive in one of the vessel's lifeboats, and while it is now out of fuel, the crew of the USS Bainbridge have dropped off food, water and a radio so that the pirates can communicate with trained FBI negotiators.
Capt Phillips has a radio and contacted the navy and crew of his ship to say he was unharmed, the Maersk shipping company said in a statement. FBI experts are helping negotiate his release. Analysts have said negotiations could be lengthy, with the pirates wanting a hefty ransom for the captain as well as compensation for a vessel that was wrecked in the attack.
Yesterday Mohamed Samaw, a resident of the pirate stronghold in Eyl, Somalia, said four foreign vessels held by pirates were heading towards the lifeboat.
A total of 54 hostages are on two of the ships – citizens of China, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Tuvalu, Indonesia and Taiwan.
Samaw said two ships left Eyl on Wednesday. A third sailed from Haradhere, another pirate base in Somalia, and the fourth was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized on Monday that was only 30 miles (48km) from the lifeboat. He said the ships include the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month.
CRIME PAYS – £100m A YEAR
ARMED with the latest equipment and deadly weapons, many of the Somali pirates are a far cry from the swashbuckling stereotypes portrayed on film.
Although currently holed up in a lifeboat with just a few packets of calorie bars and some fishing tackle, they are generally highly efficient at making large amounts of money out of ransoms.
A third of all pirate attacks now take place off the Horn of Africa, making them the most dangerous waters in the world. The area they target now encompasses more than a quarter of the Indian Ocean.
The pirates use advanced equipment such as satellite phones and GPS and are also armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s.
After receiving tip-offs from contacts at ports, they use speedboats to approach their target. To hijack the ships, the pirates first use grappling hooks and irons and climb aboard with ropes and ladders. Sometimes, they fire first to scare the captain into stopping the ship, so it is easier to board.
They take their hostages to land, where they tend to treat them well while they wait for a ransom to arrive. The cash demands are usually kept relatively low so the money is paid without more drastic action being considered by either side.
But the Kenyan foreign minister estimates pirates have received £100 million in the past year in payments.
Although warships from at least nine countries are now operating in the Gulf of Aden, it is proving almost impossible to police.
The International Maritime Bureau is advising ship-owners to have look-outs or travel fast enough to get away from the pirates.
DEVOTED FAMILY MAN DRAWN TO THE SEA
CAPTAIN Richard Phillips has more than 20 years experience at the helm of tankers and cargo ships facing the dangers of the high seas.
He is described as a devoted family man. He and his wife Andrea, have two children who are both at college. The family live in a farmhouse in the village of Underhill in Vermont.
His wife, a nurse, told an American television station that she was waiting for a "happy ending" and had "faith" in her husband.
She said: "He's a smart man and I know he'll be all right."
Her husband, believed to be 53, graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1979, after planning to study international law. Before that he spent some time as a Boston taxi driver.
As well as being drawn to the sea, he is reportedly an avid skier, snowboarder and footballer, who also enjoys working on his house.
Mrs Phillips told the Boston Herald she was "always concerned" about the possible dangers of her husband's work.
She said her husband had mentioned increasing piracy in a recent e-mail.
"I had always hoped it wasn't going to happen to us," she said.
Relatives said Capt Phillips offered himself as a hostage to the pirates to save his crew.
US media reported that he tried to escape the lifeboat on which he was being held, but was recaptured.
There is no indication that he has been harmed by the Somali pirates who have kidnapped him.
His mother-in-law said he was "a really good father, husband and provider".
Source: The Scotsman
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