14 Ships, 260 Crew Held by Somali Pirates

[tekisui]

Source: AP

The International Maritime Bureau says 260 crew on 14 hijacked ships are being held off the coast of Somalia, not including the U.S.-flagged ship seized Wednesday — the Maersk Alabama and its crew of 20 U.S. nationals.

The other ships include:

_ Bulk carrier African Sanderling and its 21 Filipino crewmen, seized in October.

_ Turkish tanker Karagol, seized in November carrying 4,500 tons of chemicals and 14 Turkish personnel.

_ Liberian-flagged MV Biscaglia, seized late November with 30 crew on board.

_ Greek-owned MV Saldanha and 22 crew members, seized in February.

_ Panama-registered, Greek-owned Nipayia, with 18 crewmen, seized in March.

_ St.-Vincent flagged, Greek-owned cargo ship Titan, with 24 crewmen, seized in March.

_ Bahamian-registered, Norwegian-owned Bow Asir, with 27 crewmen, also seized in March.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gE1L5mqP4iprVog6We61MnaPl_TAD97EFBTO0

[TwilightGardener]

1. Seems hard to believe we can't get an international coalition together

to free these crews and put a stop to this nonsense for good.

[malaise]

2. And not one before this one

had an American crew. The timing is unbelievable.
Where is Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeney?

[tekisui]

3. I have seen reports suggesting that some of the pirate takeovers

have actually been the pirates stopping illegal dumping of waste in Somalia's waters. This one was quite far off the coast, and was reportedly delivering food aid.

[malaise]

5. The pirates and locals have also been upset that

Asian ships come in and steal their seafood in droves.

[Lasher]

8. There are pirate apologists afoot.

I seriously doubt any of the captured ships or sailors are guilty of the transgressions being cited in attempts to justify this piracy.

[cali]

9. fuck the pirates

seriously, these are the last people in the world I'd consider defending. They're in it for the money, not some altruistic reason.

[cali]

4. wtf? this is insane. I had no idea so many ships were being held.

and some of them have been held for 6 months.

[panader0]

6. It's hard to believe that a dozen or so pirates in a small open boat

can take over a huge cargo vessel. Even water cannons could defend the ship, it would seem.

[Gin]

7. heard on NPR that the captain of the American ship was taken away

as a hostage by the pirates..