Only Ransom posibilities may protect hostage Captain - Breaking Updates

BOSTON — As per breaking news updates, an American hostage held by armed Somali pirates in a tiny lifeboat may be protected by a lucrative — and possibly growing — ransom on his life, experts said Friday.

But they also warned that the uniqueness of the high-stakes standoff could quickly change things.

The possible payout for Capt. Richard Phillips (Video Released) would be the pirates' top priority and could trump any desire for payback after his recent escape attempt, experts said. The 53-year-old Phillips jumped out of the boat Friday before being forced back in by automatic weapons fire.

The pirates are businessmen, not suicidal jihadists, said Scott Stewart, vice president for tactical analysis for Stratfor, a global intelligence company based in Austin, Texas.

"These are people who are trying to make money," Stewart said. "They want to survive this. They don't want to die, which is a good thing in the captain's favor."

Jamie Lynn DeCoster, a surface warfare Navy officer who has been on piracy patrols off the coast of Africa, said the international publicity and looming U.S. warships has ratcheted up the pressure on the pirates, but it could also drive up the ransom price.

Ultimately, the four pirates know they're responsible to superiors on land, who won't be as influenced by the warship guns pointed at their subordinates and may be eyeing a bigger payout than normal for a healthy Phillips, she said.

"If (the pirates) still need him, if they don't feel severely threatened, and they're still acting and making decisions in a rational matter, I believe that Capt. Phillips might be safer," said DeCoster, a student at The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. "But we don't know. We don't know what they're thinking right now."

The volatile situation, including word of the escape attempt, has worn on Phillips' family in Underhill, Vt., said his brother-in-law, Tom Coggio.

"Now, this is just really taking a toll on all of us," said Coggio, speaking from his home in Richmond, Vt.

The captain's wife, Andrea Phillips, released a statement Friday through Maersk, her husband's employer.

"My family and I would like to thank our neighbors, our community, and the nation for the outpouring of support. We have felt the compassion of the world through your concern for Richard. My husband is a strong man and we will remain strong for him. We ask that you do the same," she said.

Coggion said when Phillips dove into the water, "maybe he saw a window of opportunity to get out of that lifeboat, which is basically a friggin' eggshell they're sitting in. Let's just hope that doesn't escalate things."

It's uncertain exactly what kind of lifeboat the pirates are in. Merchant Marine Rear Adm. Rick Gurnon, president of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne, said the lifeboats that cargo ships typically carry are covered, up to 28 feet long, and hold about two dozen people.

A lifeboat at the academy, which was built to similar specifications, had seats around the boat's inside edges and on a center console, which holds food and the engine. The fiberglass lifeboats are robust, Gurnon said, and built to turn back over if they capsize at sea. He added they "bob like a cork" and are extremely uncomfortable to ride in for any length of time.

Gurnon said he believes time is on the side of the U.S. Navy because exhaustion will set in as the pirates spend hours adrift in a cramped, hot lifeboat. The Navy will keep other pirate vessels away, depriving the Somalis of an escape route.

"I think the four pirates are frightened," Gurnon said. "I mean, they're looking down the barrels of some pretty angry American weapons. They've got one American hostage — they thought they had a good deal. Didn't turn out that way. They made a bad bargain, and they have no more cards to play."

Their only hope is keeping Phillips alive and turning him in, Gurnon said. "They have every motive to keep him alive and well. He's not worth anything dead."

Pirates Demand 2M Dollars for Captain Release - Breaking news updates

NAIROBI, Kenya -- As per breaking news updates, Pirates holding an American ship captain hostage in a lifeboat off the coast of East Africa on Friday demanded $2 million for his release, maritime officials said, hours after the captain attempted a daring escape from his captors.

The American, Richard Phillips, jumped overboard into shark-infested waters but was quickly recaptured and brought back onto the lifeboat, a U.S. official said. In a statement released after the incident, the owner of Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, said that Phillips remained in contact with U.S. warships on the scene and appeared unharmed.

As U.S. officials continued to negotiate with the pirates for Phillips' release, the escape attempt was a sign that veteran captain was still in fighting shape after two days in captivity aboard a 28-foot lifeboat some 350 miles off the coast of Somalia.

In a separate incident involving another ship hijacked in the notoriously dangerous waters off Somalia, the French government said its navy on Friday freed a yacht that was captured over the weekend, but that one hostage had died in a gun battle between pirates and French special forces. Four other hostages were rescued unharmed. French forces killed two pirates and captured three others.

There was no sign the Pentagon was preparing to take such dramatic steps in the standoff involving Phillips, whose U.S.-flagged container ship was hijacked Wednesday in the first capture of a U.S. vessel in recent memory. The 20-man crew of the Alabama, which was carrying food aid to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, regained control of the ship from the four pirates, who took Phillips hostage.

With two U.S. naval vessels watching the situation - the USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer, and the USS Halyburton, a guided missile frigate - the Pentagon was aiming for show of might that could force the pirates' hand. But U.S. officials denied reports in the Somali news media that the pirates were planning a confrontation by sending a flotilla of stolen vessels, including the hostages aboard, as their own reinforcements.

"I don't believe any (pirate ships) have been observed anywhere nearby the area in which we are operating right now. And we do have some sense of where they are," said the official, who has been following the situation closely but asked not to be further identified due to the delicacy of the situation.

He said a number of Somali "mother ships" were off the Somali coast, some with hijacked foreign vessels in tow. But none was making any attempt to intervene between the U.S. Navy and the lifeboat with the hostage and four pirates aboard.

The lifeboat, which has enough food and water for 10 days and a range of about 100 miles, was believed to be moving slowly toward the coastline of Somalia. But the official said the U.S. military had "clearly no intention to allow it go anywhere near shore or allow it closer to another vessel."

Still, some pirates appeared to be spoiling for a fight. Residents in Galkaayo, a town that serves as a base for pirate groups, said 20 pirates set off by road for the coastal town of Eyl in a convoy of 4-wheel-drive vehicles late on Friday night.

"We have to defend ourselves," said a pirate who joined the expedition, who identified himself only as Jamal. "We have to get back our guys. We have to fight to the end."

Experts said it was doubtful, however, that the pirates would attempt a dramatic confrontation with U.S. warships that could result in casualties. Maritime officials said their best option now was to give up Phillips in exchange for being allowed to return to Somalia.

"That's how it will end," predicted Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, who tracks piracy from Mombasa. "They have no bargaining power now. They don't have a ship, they don't have cargo, and they are surrounded."

The crew of the Alabama was reportedly sailing to Mombasa, its original destination, and was expected to arrive Saturday night, Mwangura said.