Somali pirates have hijacked a Japanese-owned chemical tanker in the latest such seizure in the Horn of Africa nation’s notoriously lawless waters, a regional maritime official and a piracy watchdog said on Monday.
Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said shipping sources in both Somalia and Japan had confirmed the vessel was seized eight nautical miles offshore on Sunday morning.
“We are trying to establish what demands they have, and how many people were on board,” Mwangura told Reuters by telephone from the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
“There are five well-organized pirate groups operating in Somali waters. We know the one which took this boat,” he said.
An official from the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur identified the vessel as the 12,000 deadweight-tonne Golden Nory.
“She has been taken into Somali waters, and we haven’t heard anything from her since,” the official said…
"Attackers generally use speedboats to surround and board vessels, often justifying their actions as measures against illegal fishing and toxic dumping.
snip
Piracy off Somalia dropped briefly last year during the six month period in which most of the south was ruled by a hardline Islamist movement. But incidents have risen again since the sharia courts movement was toppled from Mogadishu at New Year."
What do you know, they actually got around to mentioning the Islam connection. So we have “Radical Eco-Friendly Pirates who also happen to be Muslim”. Sounds like an identity crisis.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Seems to me the Somalis are acting as if they have Letters of Marque.
[/quote]
Then why did you title the tread with the word “pirate”? Pirates are criminals. Pirates do not get approval from State authority to act.
[quote]malonetd wrote: Yes I am a pirate
Two hundred years too late
The cannons don’t thunder
There’s nothing to plunder
I’m an over forty victim of fate [/quote]
That ship’s crew was making a pretty big navigational error if they were 8nm off of the coast of Somalia when they were seized. The Somali coast is a well known pirate area and they should have been further out to sea. Coastal pirates are like muggers, your best defense is to either carry a big stick or walk where the muggers don’t hang out.
I read an article on that today. The North Koreans attacked the pirates and several of them were pretty badly wounded. I guess when you know that the Dear Leader is going to crush your nuts if you don’t get his shipment of johnny walker blue and pirated spiderman 3 DVDs to him, you’ll be damned if some rudy-poo somali pirates are going to capture your ship.
With U.S. Navy Help, Ship Crew Defeats Pirates
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
NAIROBI, Kenya �?? U.S. sailors brought injured North Koreans aboard their destroyer for medical treatment after the Koreans were shot and wounded in a battle with pirates off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said Wednesday.
The destroyer USS James E. Williams assisted Korean sailors who retook control of their North Korean-flagged vessel Tuesday in a deadly battle with Somali pirates who had hijacked the boat late Monday.
Lt. John Gay, deputy spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain, told The Associated Press that pirate attacks are not rare in U.S. Navy’s area of operations and that “it’s our duty to help all vessels in distress.”
According to the military, the North Koreans asked for medical assistance and gave permission for U.S. Navy personnel to board the ship.
When the Navy boarded the ship with a small team of medics, security personnel and an interpreter, the Koreans already had regained control of the vessel and detained all pirates, the Navy said."
America, the most moral, most noble country in history. True, bankers are taking us over, but we’ll beat them too eventually. Evil can’t triumph forever.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
With U.S. Navy Help, Ship Crew Defeats Pirates
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
NAIROBI, Kenya �?? U.S. sailors brought injured North Koreans aboard their destroyer for medical treatment after the Koreans were shot and wounded in a battle with pirates off the coast of Somalia, the Navy said Wednesday.
The destroyer USS James E. Williams assisted Korean sailors who retook control of their North Korean-flagged vessel Tuesday in a deadly battle with Somali pirates who had hijacked the boat late Monday.
Lt. John Gay, deputy spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain, told The Associated Press that pirate attacks are not rare in U.S. Navy’s area of operations and that “it’s our duty to help all vessels in distress.”
According to the military, the North Koreans asked for medical assistance and gave permission for U.S. Navy personnel to board the ship.
When the Navy boarded the ship with a small team of medics, security personnel and an interpreter, the Koreans already had regained control of the vessel and detained all pirates, the Navy said."
[/quote]
Now this is the kind of shit that is good PR for the US military. Dropping bombs on them however would not have been a popular decision. You see the difference between humanitarian action and warmongering?