Pirates attack US siege tanker again
Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama merchant ship again today just seven months after capturing its captain who had to be freed in a special forces operation.
This time private guards on board the US-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.
Pirates hijacked the Alabama last April and took captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL snipers freed him while killing three pirates in a night-time attack. He was not on the current voyage.
This time the pirates attacked the ship with automatic weapons about 350 miles east of the Somali coast, but guards on board the craft fired back and thwarted them.
A spokesman for the EU Naval Force, called it “pure chance” that the Alabama had been targeted a second time.
“It’s not the first vessel to have been attacked twice, and it’s a chance that every single ship takes as it passes through the area,” he said. “At least this time they had a vessel protection detachment on board who were able to repel the attack.”
An EU patrol aircraft from the Horn of Africa nation Djibouti was called in to investigate, and the closest EU Naval Force vessel was tasked with searching for the pirate attack group.
Pirates have greatly increased their attacks in recent weeks after seasonal rains subsided. On Monday a self-proclaimed pirate said that Somali hijackers had been paid $3.3m for the release of 36 crew members from a Spanish vessel held for more than six weeks – a clear demonstration of how lucrative the trade can be for impoverished Somalis.
Meanwhile a Somali pirate said the captain of a ship taken earlier this week has died of wounds suffered during the highjack.
The pirate, who only gave one name, Sa’id, said the captain died last night from internal bleeding.
The Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker the Theresa was taken on Monday with 28 North Korean crew members on board.
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