US ship thwarts second pirate attack
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 This April 22, 2009 file photo shows the US-flagged Maersk Alabama, leaving the Port of Mombasa, Kenya. Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama ship for the second time in seven months on Wednesday Nov 18, 2009, but guards aboard the cargo ship returned fire and repelled the takeover attempt, the EU's naval force said. [Agencies] |
A US Navy P-3 surveillance aircraft "is monitoring Maersk Alabama and has good voice communication with the vessel", said Lt. Nathan Christensen, the Bahrain-based spokesman for the 5th Fleet.
"Everything is safe and secure and Maersk Alabama is proceeding to their intended destination," Christensen said. The ship was heading for the Kenyan port town of Mombasa.
Maritime experts said it was unlucky but not unprecedented that the Maersk Alabama had been targeted in a second attack.
"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," Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force. "At least this time they had a vessel protection detachment on board who were able to repel the attack."
Phillips' ordeal last spring galvanized the attention of the US public to the dangers of operating merchant ships in the Horn of Africa, one of the busiest and most precarious sea lanes in the world.
Underscoring the danger, a self-proclaimed pirate said Wednesday that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday had died of wounds suffered during the ship's hijacking. The pirate, Sa'id, who gave only one name for fear of reprisals, said the captain died Tuesday night from internal bleeding.
The EU Naval Force has said the Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker the Theresa was taken Monday with 28 DPRK crew.
Pirates have greatly increased their attacks in recent weeks after seasonal rains subsided. On Tuesday, a self-proclaimed pirate said that Somali hijackers had been paid $3.3 million 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.
Phillips told the AP last month from his farmhouse in Vermont that he was contemplating retiring from sea life after his ordeal. He's been given a book deal and a movie could be in the works.
Phillips was hailed as a hero for helping his crew thwart April's hijacking before he was taken hostage, but he says he never volunteered, as crew members and his family reported at the time. He says he was already a hostage when he struck a deal with the pirates — trading him for their leader, who was taken by the Maersk Alabama's crew.
