Saturday, April 11, 2009

Post Update Two: Somali Pirates/US Captain Hostage Situation

Post Update Two:
Somali Pirates/US Captain Hostage Situation

Pirates Continue to Hold Captain Phillips Hostage - Demand $2 Million Ransom
Saturday, April 11, 2009

File Photo of the Maersk Alabama Container Ship
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* FOXNews.com gets us up-to-date with the following report this early Saturday morning. It starts off like this… The intensifying scene of a pirate standoff with the U.S. Navy is a bleak case study in the lawless dynamics of the piracy problem off the coast of Somalia… The captain of a U.S.-flagged ship hijacked this week by a band of pirates attempted to escape Friday but didn't make it far, as the pirates fired gunshots and recaptured him. They then proceeded to demand a $2 million ransom, according to a Somali negotiator… The Navy has sent the USS Bainbridge to the scene, and the pirates reportedly have called in reinforcements as well, seeking help from other bands of pirates on hijacked ships in the region… The Navy is also moving a huge amphibious ship closer to the scene of the pirate hostage standoff off Somalia… Defense officials say the USS Boxer will be nearby soon. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss sensitive ship movements… The Boxer is the flag ship for a multination anti-piracy task force. The Boxer resembles a small aircraft carrier. It has a crew of more than 1,000, a mobile hospital, missile launchers and about two dozen helicopters and attack planes…
Read the full, lengthy report at link below…
Tense Standoff Between U.S., Pirates Mirrors Lawless Trend Off Somali Coast
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Behind the Headlines
About this FOX News Video: A Freelance Journalist provides a closer look at the Somalia Piracy issue
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* Reuters.com has this report posted on their website early this Saturday morning… Pirates on a German ship with 24 foreign hostages said on Saturday they had returned to the Somali coast after failing to locate the scene of a standoff involving an American captive on a drifting lifeboat… The pirates had hoped to use the hijacked 20,000-tonne container vessel, Hansa Stavanger, as a "shield" to reach fellow pirates holding American ship captain Richard Phillips far out in the Indian Ocean. U.S. naval ships are close to the lifeboat… "We have come back to Haradheere coast. We could not locate the lifeboat," one pirate on the German ship, who identified himself as Suleiman, told Reuters. "We almost got lost because we could not find the bearing of the lifeboat."…
Read the rest at link below…
Somali pirates in German ship fail to find comrades
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* AP has this report this morning… U.S. warships are trying to stop Somali pirates from sending reinforcements to a lifeboat where an American captain is being held hostage as the high-seas standoff off Africa's eastern coast entered a fourth day Saturday…
Read the rest at link below…
US ships block help for pirates holding US captain
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* BBC.co.uk reports… Somali pirates holding US Captain Richard Phillips hostage have warned that the use of force to rescue him could result in "disaster"… The pirates said they hoped to transfer him to a bigger vessel, as US and other naval ships made their way to the area…
Read this report in full at link below…
Pirates caution against US rescue
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* AFP
reports it this way this morning… Somali pirates holding a US captain hostage warned Saturday that using force to free him would end in "disaster" as they prepared to move him following a deadly French raid on a separate boat…
Read the full report at link below…
Somali pirates issue warning over US hostage
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* BBC News put this report up just after 11:00am this morning
Somali pirates have hijacked a US-owned tugboat in the Gulf of Aden with 16 crew members on board - 10 of them Italians, reports say… Maritime industry sources say the tug was towing two barges at the time of the attack at 0800 GMT… The crew are said to be unharmed. The US and Italian governments have not confirmed the hijacking… Meanwhile pirates holding a US captain hostage have warned that using force to rescue him could result in "disaster"…
Read the rest at link below…
Pirates hijack second US vessel
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* AP had this take on this latest news…
Somali pirates hijacked an Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew Saturday, a NATO spokeswoman said, as U.S. warships closely watched a lifeboat where an American captain was being held hostage for a fourth day.
The tugboat was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast as it was pulling barges, said Shona Lowe, a spokeswoman at NATO's Northwood maritime command center… The Foreign Ministry in Rome confirmed 10 of the 16 crew members are Italian. The crew members also include five Romanians and one Croatian, according to Micoperi, the Italian maritime services company that owns the ship…
Read the full report at link below…
Pirates seize Italians on tug as US ships converge
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Pirates Defy U.S. Navy. More Pirate Ships Reinforcements On The Move


This CNN News Video posted on YouTube by MiddleEastNews
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* ABC News brings us this BREAKING NEWS:
* 12:34 CDT *
Safe Harbor: Hijacked U.S. Cargo Ship Arrives at Kenya Port
Cheering and guarded by Navy Seals, the crew of an American ship reached a Kenyan port Saturday evening without their captain, still held hostage by Somali pirates in a lifeboat hundreds of miles from shore… Even as the Maersk Alabama pulled into port, the crew of an Italian-flagged tugboat was being held by pirates who seized it in a new attack… When asked by a journalist how it felt to arrive in Kenya, a member of the 19 remaining crew who did not give his name said it was "terrifying and exciting at the same time." Asked about his captain, he said: "He's a hero."… "He saved our lives," another crew member said…
Read this report in full at link below…

US Ship Reaches Kenya Minus Kidnapped Captain
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Formerly Hijacked U.S. Cargo Ship Arrives in Kenya


This CNN News Video posted on YouTube by NewsPoliticsNews
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This Post now Closed –
Check top of this Blog for latest updated Posts.
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An American HERO in the making
In fact… all 20 of those brave American crew members are Heroes in my book!
God bless them all…
And again…
Don’t Mess with Americans - Ever!!!
AubreyJ………

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