Crew of hijacked ship hints at heroic fight to repulse pirates

[babylonsister]

Crew of hijacked ship hints at heroic fight to repulse pirates

By Shashank Bengali | McClatchy Newspapers


MOMBASA, Kenya — Crew members of an American ship hijacked off the East African coast last week offered the first dramatic glimpse Saturday of how they beat back the four pirates who'd attacked them on Wednesday and continue to hold their captain hostage hundreds of miles off the coast of Somalia.

Moments after docking at this East African port, some of the 19 members of the Maersk Alabama's crew told how the chief engineer led one of the Somali pirates into the dark engine room, where the pirate was attacked.

One crew member said it was the captain, Richard Phillips, who "jumped" the pirate.

Crew members, who military officials say were unarmed, then regained control of the ship, but not before Phillips was taken hostage aboard one of the vessel's 28-foot life rafts. The pirates reportedly have demanded a $2 million ransom. They remain near the hijack site, 350 miles at sea, within sight of two U.S. warships that were dispatched to the scene.

The pirates' seizure of the ship, the first of an American vessel in perhaps 200 years, was brazen even by the standards of Somali pirates, who've hijacked more than 40 ships last year in the waters off Africa's most lawless nation.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/65934.html