Pirates Sending Backup to Kidnappers

[tekisui]

Source: Bloomberg

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- The band of pirates whose members hijacked a U.S.-flagged ship yesterday in the Indian Ocean is sending reinforcements to the kidnappers holding the captain hostage, said a member of the group who spoke from Somalia.

The man, who called himself Da’ud and identified himself as one of the pirates, spoke by phone from the area of Eyl, Somalia. He said he had been in contact with the four pirates who boarded the Maersk Alabama and who then took the captain hostage on a lifeboat that has stalled off the coast.

Any new pirates arriving at the scene will be confronted by the destroyer USS Bainbridge, which has moved into the area and is getting images fed to it from a drone flying over the lifeboat, an American official said. A second warship, the frigate USS Halyburton, is en route, a U.S. official said today.

“We sent reinforcement men to help them,” said Da’ud, who declined to identify himself further or give a contact for the pirates on the scene. The reinforcing pirates are going to the area in two groups, one of which is already at sea, he said.

The U.S. crew regained control of the Alabama yesterday and CNN reported it is sailing for Mombasa, Kenya, its original destination. The captain, Richard Phillips, surrendered to the pirates to secure the safety of his crew, the Associated Press reported.

End Predicted Soon

“The last information we received from them was that American small airplanes and helicopters are flying over them while the lifeboat’s fuel is running out,” Da’ud said. “The situation will end soon. Either the Americans take their man and sink the boat with my colleagues, or we will soon recover the captain and my colleagues in the coming hours.

more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0_bREz.wbic&refer=home

[Posteritatis]

1. LOL! "reinforcements" to a scene covered by a destroyer (nt)

[tekisui]

2. Yeah, I don't know what they think they're doing.

[Posteritatis]

3. Or they're just talking out their ass, yeah (nt)

[denem]

46. = TARP II

[opihimoimoi]

6. These nut jobs are insane.....they gonna confront a WARSHIP?? LOL

[conspirator]

36. If they have a human shield. It may be possible, altough still risky nt

[Canuckistanian]

45. It's like Zanzibar "sending in the cavalry"

Against the British Fleet anchored in the harbor.

[lamp_shade]

4. Target practice anyone?

[Cali_Democrat]

5. LOL....isn't there a Navy destroyer there?

Interesting.....

[FVZA_Colonel]

7. My God, it's like we're in the seventeenth century.

How could these people possibly think they're going to win against a flotilla led by a US Navy destroyer?

[JuniperLea]

8. They are desperate people...

That's why they are pirates to begin with. This "no win" situation scares me... they could do anything.

Holding good thoughts for Captain and his family.

[Extend a Hand]

11. At least these pirates are in it for the money

and not some ideology...so the Captain has a chance. Hopefully the company will pay.

[finecraft]

9. OMG! They are sending in the "USS HALYBURTON"?

Halyburton......Halliburton......ROFL!!!!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. heh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_D._Halyburton,_Jr.

[me b zola]

16. I heard that earlier and didn't know whether to laugh or cry

The USS Halyburton (FFG-40)

[mountainvue]

33. I know. Is that a misspelling? Does that

particular ship specialize in making billions of taxpayer dollars disappear in the blink of an eye? (No disrespect to the sailors on the ship).

[cali]

10. this is just nuts

they won't get close to that life boat.

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. Yeah, right.

[TheCowsCameHome]

13. "End predicted soon"

You bet..............................

[Marr]

14. The Marx brothers are alive, and they're pirates.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. They're going to refuel their comrades and retreat.

As long as they have a hostage, the plan could work.

[cali]

19. I can't see the U.S. Navy letting them anywhere near the

life boat.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. Can you see the Navy allowing the hostage to be shot?

[cali]

22. I sincerely hope not

but they won't allow more pirates into the mix. I'm fairly certain of that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Then that would be allowing the hostage to be shot.

[cali]

26. how do you know?

and for all we know, this all bullshit on the part of on-land pirates.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. Because of threats by said pirates.

[cali]

30. and that could be bluffing

there's really no way of knowing.

[1]

49. if you only have one hostage, you think real hard before you shoot 'um...

[ManiacJoe]

43. The reinforcements will not be allowed to get anywhere

close enough to the lifeboat for any type of interaction between the pirates. Therefore, any killing of the hostage will be independent of what any "reinforcements" may or may not do.

Of course, killing of the hostage would result in quick death of the pirates...

Unfortunately, we are all just Monday-morning-quarterbacking since none of us are commanding the destroyer.

[lpbk2713]

25. The Captain staying alive is what is keeping the pirates alive.

I hope they understand something that fudamental.

That destroyer could turn them all into nothing more than a brief red spot in the water.

[tekisui]

29. Yep. If anything, I even hate to say it, happens to the captain,

the pirates are dead. And, the Navy would likely turn to look for the mothership.

[backscatter712]

18. Reinforcements against a US Navy destroyer?

Good luck with that...

I imagine the destroyer's parked juuuuust outside of visual range of the lifeboat (any closer and the pirates may kill that captain - this is a hostage situation) and they've got drones, helicopters and small boats swarming all over the area. There's no way onshore pirates can get anyways near them.

[ThomWV]

24. How quickly we forget the lessons of the Falkland Islands

Ask the British navy.

[Xithras]

27. But at least Argentina had a real army.

Trained soldiers with modern equipment and supply lines to keep them combat ready. These pirates are just fishermen with machine guns and rocket launchers sailing their wooden motorboats into combat against radar guided, computer controlled deck cannons and missile launchers. The destroyer can kill them before the pirates even get within sight.

[Posteritatis]

31. Ask them if they expect Somali riflemen in speedboats to have Exocets?

Sure. While we're at it, can I ask you how you can possibly think the two situations are comparable?

[backscatter712]

34. I think a more applicable lesson would be the bombing of the USS Cole.

I don't think the Somali pirates can scare up fighter jets or Exocet missiles, but they might be able to do a suicide speedboat loaded with explosives.

But assuming our sailors are paying attention, like I said, good luck with that... Assuming they're on the ball, they'd spot any suicide runs from miles away and blast them to smithereens before they even got close.

[Posteritatis]

35. Why would they do that?

I might be going out on a limb here, but I assume there's a slight difference between religious zealots bent on martyrdom and armed robbers.

[TheMightyFavog]

39. The Phalanx guns would turn the boat and its occupants into a pink mist..

Before they got within 200 meters of the ship.

[EFerrari]

44. Its occupants including the ship's captain.

[TorchTheWitch]

37. The pirates are in touch with the destroyer

It's been circling the life boat to keep pirate reinforcements at bay. The pirates have requested and received food and water from the destroyer and negotiations between the destroyer and the pirates have been ongoing with the destroyer (I imagine the captain) has been trying to impress on the pirates they can't win and to give up. The life boat is now out of fuel as well. At this point, it's been reported that all the pirates want now is to escape unharmed (given safe passage). Heard all this on a pretty thorough news report on the tube this evening.


Edit: typed "morning" for some reason instead of "evening"

[Xithras]

20. It's moments like this when I miss the battleships.

Call me sentimental.

[TheMightyFavog]

38. While the Iowa Class are now museum ships...

IIRC, they are kept in such a manner so that if they ever had to be reactivated, they could be ready to sail off to fight within a few weeks...

[Xithras]

41. Weeks? More like months.

Only the Iowa and Wisconsin are required to be maintained, and neither ship receives any maintenance to their mechanicals. At this point, both ships have been mothballed for so long that the engines are probably inoperable, and there are few in the Navy today who still have the skills to work on them. There isn't a crew for one ANYWHERE, and only a small number of naval enlistees today have ever served aboard one.

Back when the cities in California were arguing over who was going to get the Iowa (it will be going to Mare Island park in Vallejo), some questions came up about the requirement. The Navy stated at the time that the ONLY maintenance requirements would involve keeping the hull clean and painted, because the ship would need a full teardown in drydock anyway before it would be capable of entering service. The huge complication there? The Iowa was parked in the SF Bay so it would be near Mare Island, one of the few shipyards on the west coast capable of repairing it. Mare Island closed in 1996, and there are now no functional drydocks in the Bay Area capable of repairing a ship of that size. If the Iowa were to be reactivated today, it would have to be towed to San Diego, a long distance to the south.

Practically speaking, only the Wisconsin ever has a chance of seeing service again.

[TheMightyFavog]

48. Which is all right with this cheesehead.

BB64, the last of her kind.

[mountainvue]

32. Good luck with that Da'ud. Give my regards to the US Navy

while you're there. Your "colleagues" are sure to meet some nice Navy Seals soon.

[TorchTheWitch]

40. I was wondering if SEALS would be sent in

I happen to be almost finished reading Frederick Forsyth's "The Devil's Alternative" in which a huge oil tanker is taken over by political kidnappers. Many similar circumstances in the book and this pirate case. In the story, a plan to send in whatever the British equivelent of SEALS are, but that plan is scraped because of the enormous size of the vessel and not knowing where all the kidnappers are and knowing they can move around at will. But with the pirate case, there's only one hostage and the life boat is small, so I've been wondering if there was a plan to send in SEALS.

[Xithras]

42. It seems like it wouldn't be that hard.

3AM, when the sky is darkest, a couple of munitions guys line the bottom of the boat with small explosives, placed strategically to cause the boat to disintegrate. The seals back off, set off the charge, and everyone goes into the water.

Guess what. AK47's and rocket launchers don't work in the water.

The SEALS swim in, grab the captain before he can drown, and either deal with the rest or leave them to the ocean.

That, or snipers.

It just doesn't seem like it should be that hard to get people off a lifeboat.

[Ex Lurker]

47. Special Boat Service

is the British equivalent. I'm sure SEALS are on location. I'm also sure that whatever they've got planned is a last resort, because hostage rescues are always dicey propositions. The larger question is what the hell are the shipping companies going to do about this. A handful of armed guards on each ship transiting the area would end this nonsense overnight.

[lpbk2713]

50. I just heard the Captain made an escape attempt.

He jumped in the water when it was dark but they jumped in after him, also
fired a few shots at him. They brought him back on board the lifeboat.


Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article6074127.ece