Thagarr's Pirate News!

[Thagarr]

Somali pirates say have seized two more vessels
Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:32am EST

* Pirates say two more ships taken

* Gunmen extend range to evade patrols

By Abdi Guled

MOGADISHU, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Somali pirates said on Wednesday they had hijacked a fishing vessel and another ship in the Indian Ocean believed to be carrying oil.

Pirate Hassan said by telephone from the coastal town of Haradheere that three gunmen were wounded while seizing the second vessel overnight on Tuesday.

"They hijacked it from the Indian Ocean and its 24 crew are safe. There was brief fighting before we captured it. Three of my friends were injured," Hassan told Reuters. "We think it is carrying fuel."

Heavily armed pirates from Somalia are holding at least 11 vessels and more than 200 crew hostage, including a British couple whose yacht was hijacked off the Seychelles.

The presence of a multinational naval force patrolling the strategic shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia, has failed to curb their attacks. [ID:nLA2709]

Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme and a pirate called Osman both said a fishing vessel had been hijacked off the northern Somali coast earlier in the week.

"Our colleagues hijacked a Yemeni fishing boat near Hafun on Monday night," Osman told Reuters.

On Sunday, pirates seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship loaded with weapons bound for Somalia, maritime experts said. [ID:nL9062439]

Then on Monday, the gunmen launched their longest range hijack attempt yet -- opening fire on a giant Hong Kong-flagged crude oil tanker 1,000 nautical miles east of Mogadishu. (Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu and George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by David Clarke)

Original story here :
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSLB121987

And this...

Chemical-carrying ship hijacked by Somali pirates
Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:33am EST

NAIROBI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Somali pirates have hijacked a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship carrying chemicals from Kuwait to South Africa, a maritime official said on Wednesday.

Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme told Reuters the vessel was the Filitsa and that it was carrying three Greek officers and an unknown number of Filipino crew members.

Original story here :
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSLB092637

 

[Thagarr]

Somali Pirates Extend Their Reach
November 11, 2009 - 3:10 PM | by: Greg Palkot

Somali-based pirates have struck again. Hijacking a Greek-owned cargo ship 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean.

London-based piracy expert Nick Davis, tells Fox News, pirates now have “…no problem extending their reach.” He explains they “leapfrog” from skiff to skiff with a range of some 200 miles for each small boat. When they reach their target ship they just sail that back to Somalia.

Today’s successful hijacking is the tenth for the pirates since October. Heavy monsoon weather had hampered their activity. Some 250 hostages are being held.

Pirates are defying an international fleet arrayed against them. Right now there are 25 ships from 14 nations patrolling the seas.

While the navies have thwarted many pirate seizures, they haven’t been able to halt the problem.

“You can throw as many warships as you want at them,” Davis added, “and it won’t make a difference.”

For that reason Fox News can confirm, the US is taking to the skies to deal with piracy. The US military command Africom, Fox learned, has now stationed 3 unmanned surveillance Reaper aircraft in the Seychelles.

They have been there for a few weeks and can stay aloft for 18 hours and provide a live feed of sea actions.

The Reapers can be armed but as of now are only providing visuals. The way this crisis is building, that could change.

Original story here :
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/11/11/somali-pirates-extend-their-reach/

I also came across this, other than blowing them out of the water, this is how ya fight off pirates! Be sure and listen to the interview!

British Ship Captain Peter Stapleton knows what he's doing when it comes to fighting off pirates.

Sailing today is fraught with danger as the modern pirate adopts newer weaponry and high-speed boats.

But when his ship the Boularibank came under attack, Captain Stapleton fought back the old way - with simple, old -fashioned traps and tricks.

Captain Stapleton was sailing off the coast of Somalia when he spotted two small boats heading straight his way.

The speed-boats were filled with pirates, armed with grenades and AK-47's, and were very fast approaching..

With passengers, crew and his wife on board, the Captain went for the only defences he had.

He sailed the ship in a zig zag formation - causing massive waves in its wake - dropped heavy timbers in front of the boats, and tied the entrances up with ropes.

Thanks to his resourcefulness, they were lucky: ship and passengers all escaped safely.

And now back on dry land, the Captain's clever strategy has earned him a Merchant Navy Medal for his bravery.

Matthew Bannister spoke to Captain Peter Stapleton and his wife May and asked them all about their daring pirate getaway.

Original story and cool interview here :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2009/11/091111_pirate_zigzag.shtml

 

[Thagarr]

The French are at it again!

Navy storms Somali pirate mothership

French commandos have stormed aboard a Somali pirate 'mothership' and arrested 12 gunmen, the military announced, adding that the gangs are increasingly operating in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean.

Tipped off by spotters on a Luxembourg maritime reconnaissance plane, the French frigate Floreal intercepted a dhow towing two motorised skiffs 500 nautical miles north-west of the Seychelles on Thursday (local time).

A helicopter from the warship fired a warning shot across the vessel's bows as its crew began to throw incriminating material over the side.

French troops boarded the ship and arrested the pirates without violence.

On board they found grappling hooks, GPS navigation devices and assault rifles, French military spokesman Admiral Christophe Prazuck said.

"Last year or at the start of this one the centre of gravity was in the Gulf of Aden," Admiral Prazuck said, referring to the straits between Arabia and the Horn of Africa that have become notorious for pirate attacks.

"The European team in place has significantly reduced the number of boats taken hostage. Though they still threaten the Gulf of Aden, the pirates have switched their activity further offshore into the Indian Ocean."

Admiral Prazuck said pirates were now striking in areas up to 800 nautical miles from their bases on the coast of Somalia, a lawless and largely ungoverned African state plagued by faction-fighting.

Several naval task forces now carry out anti-piracy patrols, including flotillas commanded by the European Union, NATO and the United States.

Floreal is fighting under EU colours as part of Operation Atalante.

Original story here :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/14/2742750.htm

 

[Thagarr]

Spanish PM: Somali pirates free fishermen

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- All 36 crew members of a Spanish fishing boat hijacked by Somali pirates more than a month ago have been freed along with their vessel, the Spanish prime minister said Tuesday.

"Our sailors of the Alakrana are free and will come home," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced in a news conference. "These tough weeks have ended in a very positive way."

Zapatero did not say how the ship was freed. Spanish media -- including CNN sister station CNN+, which cited a source it said was close to the negotiations -- reported that a ransom had been paid.

The prime minister congratulated the armed forces, diplomats, intelligence services, and the government for their role in freeing the ship. He also thanked the political parties that entered into an agreement ahead of the Alakrana's release, but he did not give details.

"Alakrana now sails freely because many people have contributed, especially the wives and the families of the crew, who have had a very hard time, but have behaved very well," Zapatero said.

"I want to say thank you to them for complying faithfully with what I asked of them in our meeting. This has been decisive for us to be able to feel safe in this situation today."

The fishing boat is now "sailing freely toward safe waters," Zapatero said, adding "all crew members are safe and sound."

Pirates seized the Spanish fishing boat off Somalia 47 days ago. The crew included 16 members from Spain and 20 from Africa and Asia.

A day after the hijacking, Spanish military monitoring the situation captured two pirate suspects as they left the fishing boat and later brought them to Madrid. The two were indicted Monday on 36 counts of kidnapping and armed robbery.

They could face sentences of more than 200 years in prison each because of the multiple kidnapping counts.

But the ship's owner, Echebastar Fleet, and relatives of the crew members had pleaded with the court and the Spanish government to return the two suspects to Somalia, as pirate representatives had demanded in conversations with Spanish media.

It is thought to be the first time suspected Somali pirates had appeared before a Spanish judge and been indicted.

Spanish media have reported that various other European countries have sent Somali pirate suspects -- which their respective armed forces captured -- to Kenya to face judicial proceedings, but did not bring them to Europe.

Rest of the story here :
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/11/17/spain.pirates/

Update :

Somali pirates get $3.3M ransom, free 36 hostages

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and DANIEL WOOLLS (AP) – 21 minutes ago

MOGADISHU, Somalia — As a Spanish warship looked on, a $3.3 million ransom was delivered by boat Tuesday and Somali pirates freed a Spanish trawler and its 36 crew members.

Spain's prime minister did little to deny paying off the hijackers — one reason the lucrative attacks are on the rise.

"The government did what it had to do," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference in Madrid. "The important thing is that the sailors will be back with us. The first obligation of a country, of the government of a state, is to save the lives of its countrymen."

Somali pirates attacked two more ships on Monday and still hold about a dozen ships with more than 200 crew, including a British couple who were taken from their 38-foot sailboat last month.

Ali Gab, a self-described pirate, told The Associated Press the hijackers of the Spanish tuna boat Alakrana were paid $3.3 million in ransom, delivered by boat as sailors aboard a nearby warship watched.

After being freed, the trawler steamed away under the protection of two Spanish warships. All crew members were reported to be in good health after more than six weeks in captivity.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told a news conference the Alakrana was headed for the Seychelles, where U.S. surveillance drones and several warships belonging to a multinational force are based.

The pirates had been pressing for the release of two colleagues captured by Spanish naval forces a day after the hijacking. The Spanish government had been trying to find some sort of legal formula that would allow it to try them and send them back to Somalia.

Rest of the story here :
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gB7YMEDuCwwY9ncDOtPAkEI4-H2wD9C1HBOG1

In my opinion, the people and companies that are actually paying these ransoms should be held just as accountable as those doing the hijacking! All they are doing is insuring that these thugs will continue to hijack ships and take people hostage!

 

[Thagarr]

Somehow, this doesn't really surprise me in the least, typical corporate mentality!

Ship is pirate target again
The Maersk Alabama, freed from hijackers in April, thwarts a new attack.

By Jason Straziuso

Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya - Somalian pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama yesterday for the second time in seven months and were thwarted this time by private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship who fired off guns and a high-decibel noise device.

A U.S. surveillance plane was monitoring the ship as it continued to its destination on the Kenyan coast.

Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama in April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy SEAL sharpshooters killed three of the pirates in a daring nighttime attack to free Phillips.

Yesterday, about 6:30 a.m. local time, four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again, firing at it with automatic weapons from 300 yards away, a statement from the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said.

An onboard security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire, and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones, the fleet said.

Vice Adm. Bill Gortney of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the Maersk Alabama had followed the maritime industry's "best practices" in having a security team on board.

Two former crew members of the Maersk Alabama said yesterday they had asked the company to rename, repaint, or reroute the ship after it was first attacked.

John Cronan, of Merion Station, and Shane Murphy said that they had feared another attack but that the company did not heed their request.

"It was my recommendation to take that ship off the run or change the name or do something," said Murphy, of Seekonk, Mass. "Because, honestly, we have to realize that American seamen are not going to be treated like the rest of the world if they're caught."

Cronan alleged that Maersk officials said such changes would require too much paperwork.

After arriving back home, Cronan said he turned down an offer to return to the ship with a promotion.

"Obviously she's a hot target," he said. "The bad guys were laying in wait for her."

Cronan and several other crewmen have filed suit in Texas against Maersk Line Ltd. and Waterman Steamship Corp., which provides ships' crews, alleging that the companies were negligent in sending the ship into known pirate territory with inadequate protection.

The men are seeking compensation for physical and psychological damage they say they suffered during the spring hijacking, and for loss of income.

Maersk officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegations.

Some 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," said 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," he said.

Original story here :
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20091119_Ship_is_pirate_target_again.html

 

[Thagarr]

North Korean captain dies from gun wound in hijack as pirates free trawler crew for £2m ransom

Tristan McConnell in Nairobi

The North Korean captain of a tanker being held by Somali pirates is believed to have died after being shot during the hijack. When the MV Theresa VIII was hijacked north of the Seychelles on Monday its 28 crew members tried to fight off the pirates. Initial reports said that no one had been injured seriously.

However, a pirate called Mohamed said: “The captain of the chemical tanker died last night from gunshot wounds he got during the hijack.”

There has been no independent confirmation of the report. Somali pirates have been responsible for more than 160 armed attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean this year. They fire frequently at target vessels with AK47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. There have been no other reports of deaths at their hands pirates this year.

Hostages are considered assets so it is in the interests of the hijackers to keep them alive. This point was illustrated yesterday when the Alakrana, a Spanish trawler, and its 36 crew, were released after a £2 million ransom was paid. There were reports of celebrations in Haradheere as the pirates flaunted their newfound wealth.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, refused to confirm that he had authorised the payment of a ransom.

At a press conference in Madrid he said “the Government did what it had to do” to secure the release of the hostages who had been held for six weeks.

Rest of the story here :
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6922374.ece

 

[Thagarr]

Pirates hijack Greek-owned bulk carrier off Yemen

NAIROBI, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Pirates hijacked a Greek-owned bulk carrier on Thursday in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen, a Kenyan maritime official said on Sunday.

"Red Sea Spirit was taken by gunmen off the Yemeni coast last Thursday. She is flying the Panama flag," said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme. "She is a Greek-owned bulk carrier." News of the seizure only emerged on Saturday, he said.

Somali pirates have continued to defy foreign navies patrolling the waters off the Horn of Africa and are holding at least 13 vessels and more than 200 crew.

There was a pause in hijackings during monsoon rains, but the sea gangs have stepped up attacks in the past two months, extending their range to as far as the Seychelles, to evade the naval vessels.

Piracy attacks around the world numbered 324 during the year to Oct. 20, according to figures from the ICC International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre.

Attacks by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia, numbered 174, with 35 vessels hijacked and 587 crew taken hostage.

Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal.

Original story here :
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSGEE5AL02Z

 

[Thagarr]

India deploys warship off Seychelles

Tuesday, 24 Nov, 2009

NEW DELHI: India’s military said Tuesday it was deploying a warship off the Seychelles to counter Somali pirates who have extended their area of operations, AFP reported.

India, which last year teamed up with foreign navies to patrol the pirate infested waters off Somalia, said its offshore patrol vessel, INS Savitri, would be equipped with an attack helicopter and marine commandos.

The ship will be used for the ‘surveillance of the exclusive economic zones of Seychelles and Mauritius from November-end until early January 2010,’ the Indian navy said in a statement in New Delhi.

‘Savitri will be deployed in close coordination with the ships and aircraft of Seychelles coast guard and the Mauritian national coast guard,’ it added.

On November 16, Somali pirates seized a chemical tanker northwest of Aldabra, an island that forms part of the Seychelles archipelago.

The name and flag of the captured vessel or the size of its crew were not clear.

International navies last year began sending warships to the Gulf of Aden off Somalia to try to stem attacks by ransom-seeking pirates that were seen as a threat to one of the globe’s busiest maritime trade routes.

Pirate groups have since shifted their focus to the wider Indian Ocean, a huge area much more difficult to patrol, and started venturing as far as the Seychelles and beyond.

‘Some of these attacks have taken place nearly 1,900 kilometres from the Somali coast thereby seriously affecting the safety of international trade transiting through these waters,’ the Indian navy said.

Indians have frequently been among those taken hostage on ships. Last month, Somali pirates seized a Panamanian ship with 26 crew, mostly Indians, off the East Africa coast.

In July, the pirates hijacked an Indian cargo vessel with 11 crew on board to use it to launch a failed attack on a super-tanker in the Gulf of Aden.

Original story here :
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect...14-india-deploys-warship-off-seychelles-zj-04

 

[carmenara]

I enjoy reading these, especially the one with the evasive maneuvers.

 

[Thagarr]

Thanks SWS! I'm glad you enjoy them. Most of it is pretty dry reading, but occasionally, ya come across some pretty interesting stuff!

Pirates kill seaman in W.Africa tanker attack

By Fiacre Vidjingninou (AFP) – 9 hours ago

COTONOU — Pirates attacked an oil tanker off the coast of west Africa, killing a Ukrainian officer before escaping with the contents of the ship's safe, the ship's owners and Benin's navy commander said Tuesday.

Commander Maxime Ahoyo said the officer on the Monrovia-flagged Cancale Star was shot dead when he confronted the pirates after they boarded the vessel in darkness 18 nautical miles (33 kilometres) off the coast of Benin.

The tanker's Latvian captain, Jaroslavs Semenovics, said around six or seven pirates had approached the tanker in a speed boat.

"They came on deck, pointed a pistol to the head of one of the sailors, marched him to the cabin," Semenovics told AFP.

"They asked me to open the safe and they collected all the cash," he added. He did not say how much was stolen.

The 230-metre (750-foot) Cancale Star was carrying 89,000 cubic metres of crude from Nigeria's Niger Delta, the captain said.

The tanker's owners Chemikalien Seetransport said in a statement issued from Germany that the vessel's chief officer, or second in command, "has tragically lost his life in a piracy attack off the coast of Benin in the early hours of November 24".

"It is not the chief engineer but the chief officer of the vessel," said Chemikalien's spokesman Cor Radings, contradicting Ahoyo who had earlier identified the Ukrainian officer as the chief engineer.

Ahoyo was speaking on board the Cauris, a Beninese navy boat which went to the assistance of the tanker and managed to dock alongside it.

Medics aboard the vessel said four other crew members were wounded in the attack, one seriously.

The pirates fled after a member of the tanker's crew raised the alarm by sounding a siren, with the crew managing to overpower a pirate and hand him over to police for questioning.

The captured pirate said he was from a Nigerian border town.

Rest of the story here :
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jBqLtFpO9Q9T_fcFEUoDMfzXJ9mw

 

[carmenara]

One could run a website dedicated to the topic - tracking real world pirate activity and doing amateur analyses.

Wait till I'm bored with Build 14, though!

 

[Thagarr]

Then it would become to much like work! :

After build 14, you need to move on to City of Abandoned Ships, that game has some serious modding potential as well. Then after that there is Pirates of the Caribbean Armada of the Damned, scheduled to come out in Q4 2010! It's a vicious never ending cycle, face it Snow White Sorrow, your gonna get hooked and become a lifer like the rest of us ...you just don't know it yet!

 

[carmenara]

Well I was one, believe it or not.

And no way am I going to shell out fifty bucks for a half complete game!

 

[Thagarr]

Actually SWS, CoAS is quite a complete game, there is much more depth there than the stock POTC. It's a very reasonably priced game at less that $30. Armada of the Damned however, will probably be a $50+ game. I haven't been able to find anything new on that one since the beginning of June. I have absolutely no confidence in Disney, and I will have to have a good look at that game before I shell out that kind of money!

Time for a Reuters FACTBOX update!

FACTBOX-Ships held by Somali pirates
26 Nov 2009 12:23:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
Nov 26 (Reuters) - Somali pirates said they freed the Ariana, a Greek ship, on Thursday which was hijacked more than six months ago as it sailed to the Middle East from Brazil.

The Ariana was carrying 24 Ukrainian crew when it was seized on May 2 north of the capital Mogadishu.

Here is a list of ships under the control of Somali pirates:

WIN FAR 161: Taiwanese tuna boat, seized on April 6, 2009.

CHARELLE: Seized on June 12, 2009. The 2,800-tonne cargo ship carrying was attacked south of Oman.

KOTA WAJAR: Seized on Oct. 15, 2009. The 24,637-tonne container ship, seized 300 miles north of Seychelles, was heading for Mombasa from Singapore and had 21 crew on board.

DE XIN HAI - Seized on Oct. 19, 2009. The Chinese vessel carried about 76,000 tonnes of coal and 25 Chinese crew and was hijacked in the Indian Ocean 700 miles off Somalia. It is owned by the Qingdao Ocean Shipping Co.

AL KHALIQ - Seized on Oct. 22, 2009. The Panamanian-registered ship carried 26 crew, 24 of them Indian. It is owned and operated by SNP Shipping of Mumbai. The 38,305 dwt bulk carrier was seized west of the Seychelles.

LYNN RIVAL - Seized October 2009. A British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, were sailing to Tanzania on their 38-ft yacht when they were seized.

THAI UNION 3 - Seized on Oct. 29, 2009. Pirates on two skiffs boarded the tuna fishing boat with 23 Russians, two Filipinos and two Ghanaians on board.

DELVINA - Seized on Nov. 5, 2009. The bulk carrier had 21 crew on board from Ukraine and the Philippines and had a cargo of wheat. It was seized northwest of Madagascar.

ALMEZAAN: Seized on Nov. 8, 2009. The Panama-flagged cargo ship is being held near the northern Somali town of Garacad. Maritime sources say it is believed to be carrying light arms, ammunition, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades. On board were the captain and a crew of 15 Indians and two Pakistanis.

AL HILAL/AL HALIL: Seized on Nov. 9, 2009. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme named the Yemeni fishing vessel as the Al Hilal or Al Halil.

FILITSA: Seized on Nov. 10, 2009. The 23,709 dwt cargo ship had a crew including three Greek officers and the rest Filipinos. The Marshall Islands-flagged ship had been heading from Kuwait to Durban, South Africa, when it was attacked 500 miles northeast of the Seychelles.

THERESA VIII: Seized on Nov. 16, 2009. The chemical tanker was hijacked in the south Somali Basin, northwest of the Seychelles. The 22,294 dwt tanker had a crew of 28 North Koreans. The captain of the tanker died from gunshot wounds sustained during the hijack, a Somali pirate said. RED SEA SPIRIT: Seized Nov. 19, 2009. Greek-owned bulk carrier flying a Panama flag, hijacked near Yemen.

* PIRACY FACTS:

-- There were 324 pirate attacks worldwide in the year to Oct. 20, with 37 vessels hijacked and 639 hostages taken. In the same period in 2008 there were 194 attacks, 36 ships hijacked and 631 hostages, according to the latest figures from the ICC International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB).

-- Of the 324 incidents, attacks by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia numbered 174, with 35 vessels hijacked and 587 crew taken hostage.

-- Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal.

Sources: Reuters/Ecoterra International/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net ((For main story, click on [ID:nGEE5AP151])) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit) ((david.cutler@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7968; Reuters Messaging: david.cutler.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Original story here :
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/GEE5AP196.htm

 

[Thagarr]

Confusion over 'release' of Greek ship

MOGADISHU — Somali pirates holding a Greek cargo ship Friday accused its owners of constantly changing their minds on deals reached to free the vessel captured more than six months ago.

On Thursday, the pirates said they had freed the ship with its 24 Ukrainian sailors after receiving 3.7 million dollars, but the director of the Athens-based All Ocean Shipping company denied the report as a lie.

"The owners of Ariana are not dealing with us in good faith. They are changing their minds from time to time contrary to the agreements made with them," Abdu Farah, a member of the gang holding the ship, told AFP.

The shipping company's director Spyros Minas said no ransom was paid and if the MV Ariana had been freed "we would have been told by the captain."

He added that his company was ready for talks to free the ship and its crew.

"The pirates have demanded a lot of money. We are ready to negotiate but on the condition we have balanced mediators," he said.

Ukraine's foreign ministry also said it could not confirm that the ship had been freed, but a spokesman added that "all can change very quickly."

Hashi Ahmed, another pirate gang member, also said the ship owners keep changing goal posts.

"We thought the matter was over and everybody was happy when the deal was made, but the situation is changing every time because of the Ariana's owners who don't want to deal with us honestly," he told AFP.

The pirates said they were to take 3.5 million dollars of the total ransom and give Somali mediators the remaining amount.

The Maltese-flagged MV Ariana was seized north of Madagascar on May 2 while on its way to the Middle East from Brazil. It was carrying 10,000 tonnes of soya beans.

Original story here :
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hpGJAJATj92C0vIhUoSmALjn-ZZQ

 

[SuperChango]

in good faith... :

 

[Thagarr]

Yeah I found that a bit amusing myself SuperChango!

Pirate kidnap yacht arrives in Portland Harbour

8:00am Friday 27th November 2009

By Diarmuid MacDonagh »


THE yacht from which a British couple were kidnapped by Somali pirates has arrived in Portland.

Paul and Rachel Chandler are currently being held by the bandits who are demanding a £4.2million ransom for their release.

The yacht, Lynn Rival, was picked up by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Wave Knight.

The Wave Knight returned to British waters yesterday and docked at Portland Port to unload the yacht.

The crew had been forced to watch as the couple were kidnapped by the pirates.

However, military officials insisted the crew members could not have acted without endangering the lives of Paul Chandler, 59, and his wife, Rachel, 55.

There were 75 merchant seamen and 25 sailors aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment tanker Wave Knight at the time.

The Chandlers this week made a direct plea in a video, warning UK authorities they fear the pirates may kill them.

The Chandlers, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were seized in the early hours of October 23 when armed Somali pirates boarded their yacht,.

They were heading from the Seychelles towards Tanzania.

The couple were forced to change course to Somalia before being put on a container ship, the Kota Wajar, which had also been taken by the pirates.

They are since thought to have been brought ashore.

Rest of the story here :
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/4763135.Pirate_kidnap_yacht_arrives_in_Portland_Harbour/

 

[carmenara]

I'm sure this has been posted before by you but I was looking up defensively armed merchant ships and this came up:

http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/pirate-attack-photos-zhenhua-4/

I want to see more of that kind of news!

 

[Thagarr]

Great pictures SWS, thanks for posting! I do have several posts on earlier pages with similar pictures, and some even with video. I do miss things occasionally though, so please feel free to post anything that you find that I missed or haven't posted yet.

One of the things I ran across a while back was ships using barbed wire to prevent pirates from boarding, it's very effective and a simple and cheap solution. Why more cargo carriers haven't adopted this method is beyond me. Granted it doesn't do a damn thing against RPG's, but it does prevent pirates from boarding near as easily.

 

[carmenara]

There appears to be a functional, albeit outdated, global piracy monitor here
http://yachtpals.com...tes-yachts-4092

I was also looking up on the effectiveness of current anti piracy measures and found this:
http://www.time.com/...world/article/0,8599,1940536,00.html

"There was an LRAD deployed, but it did not appear to be effective,"Gortney said. Unfortunately, that has happened before. "There have beenembarked security teams that did not have weapons and were using LRADs andother things of that nature and they proved ineffective," he added. RobertPutnam of American Technology Corp. of San Diego, which makes the LRAD, saysit should be viewed not as a weapon but as an early-warning system. "It's anacoustic hailing device that's highly effective in determining intent andcreating standoff and safety zones in piracy applications," he said.(See photos of the modern face of Somali pirates.)

Gortney called the LRAD "a terrific non-lethal weapon," and said cargoships plying those waters should also use other means — slippery foam andbarbed wire around ships' entry and exit points — to ward off pirates.But kinder, gentler techniques have their limits. "At the end of the day, ifyour opponent has an AK-47, the LRAD is not quite as effective as thatAK-47," he said. "A well-placed round from an M-16 is far more effectivethan that LRAD."


Read more: http://www.time.com/...world/article/0,8599,1940536,00.html#ixzz0YELrQeM4

And as for this article a few years ago:
http://www.time.com/...world/article/0,8599,1844914,00.html?loomia_si=t0:a16:r1:c0.159696:b28949234&xid=Loomia

I wonder what had happened with those tanks, and all that military hardware.

Another question - these pirate attacks have been a major problem for years; has any discussion been made on attempting to strike at their source? Seems obvious that patrol and escort tactics have only so much coverage, and the ocean is a huge place.

The Somali coast... isn't that big compared to it.

And this answers my question
http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2009/02/3928962

I'm not a believer of the mantra - carrying guns means exposure to increased danger. It's far better than going down helplessly.