Rescued captain to reunite with crew tomorrow

MOMBASA, Kenya — As per breaking news, a Maersk shipping official says the shipping captain that U.S. sharpshooters rescued from pirates will reunite with his crew in the Kenyan resort of Mombasa on Wednesday.

The crew that thwarted the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama has hailed Capt. Richard Phillips as a hero who saved them by offering himself up as a hostage.

U.S. SEALs killed three pirates Sunday night in a daring attack that killed the three pirates who had been holding Phillips for five days in an enclosed lifeboat.

Maersk official Gordan van Hook told reporters they expect Phillips to arrive in Mombasa on Wednesday. He had no details about the reunion with the crew.

Meanwhile, undeterred Somali pirates went on a hijacking spree, brazenly capturing four more ships and taking over 60 crew members hostage in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway at the center of the world's fight against piracy.

Pirates have vowed to retaliate for five colleagues slain by U.S. and French forces in recent hostage rescues — and the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday he takes those comments seriously.

But Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that "we're very well prepared to deal with anything like that."

Despite Mullen's confident statement and President Barack Obama's warning of further U.S. action, pirates captured two more nautical trophies Tuesday to match the two ships they seized a day or two earlier.

The latest seizures were the Lebanese-owned cargo ship MV Sea Horse, the Greek-managed bulk carrier MV Irene E.M. and two Egyptian fishing boats. Maritime officials said the Irene carried 21 to 23 Filipino crew and Egyptian officials reported 36 fishermen, mostly Egyptians, on the two boats.

It was not known exactly how many crew the Sea Horse had on board, but a ship that size would probably need at least a dozen.

NATO spokeswoman Shona Lowe said pirates in three or four speedboats captured the Sea Horse on Tuesday — an attack that came only hours after the Irene was seized in a rare overnight raid.

The two Egyptian fishing boats were hijacked in the gulf off Somalia's northern coast but it was not clear if those attacks came Monday or Sunday.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest and most vital shipping lanes, crossed by over 20,000 ships each year.

A flotilla of warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby Indian Ocean waters for months. They have halted many attacks on ships this year, but say the area is so vast they can't stop all hijackings.

Pirates have attacked 78 ships this year, hijacking 19 of them, and 17 ships with over 300 crew still remain in pirates' hands, according to Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.

Each boat carries the potential of a million-dollar ransom.

The Irene, flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was sailing from the Middle East to South Asia, Choong said.

U.S. Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the Irene carried 23 Filipino crew, while Choong reported it had 21 and Greek marine officials said it carried 22. here was no immediate way to reconcile the figures.

A maritime security contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity because it is a sensitive security issue, said the Irene put out a distress signal "to say they had a suspicious vessel approaching. That rapidly turned into an attack and then a hijacking."

"They tried to call in support on the emergency channels, but they never got any response," the contractor said.

The latest seizures come after Navy SEAL snipers rescued American ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday by killing three young pirates who held him captive in a drifting lifeboat for five days. A fourth pirate surrendered after seeking medical attention for a wound he received in trying to take over Phillips' vessel, the Maersk Alabama.

Phillips on Tuesday was aboard a Navy vessel at an undisclosed location, Christensen said. He was initially taken aboard the Norfolk, Va.-based USS Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for a medical exam.

In Washington, Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda, vowing the United States would work with nations around the world to fight the problem.

"I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks," Obama told reporters Monday.

The 19 crew members of the Alabama celebrated their skipper's freedom with beer and an evening barbecue Monday in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, said crewman Ken Quinn.

The vessel's chief mate was among those urging strong U.S. action against piracy.

"It's time for us to step in and put an end to this crisis," Shane Murphy said. "It's a crisis. Wake up."

The U.S. is considering new options to fight piracy, including adding Navy gunships along the Somali coastline and launching a campaign to disable pirate "mother ships," according to military officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made yet.

The four pirates who attacked the Alabama were between 17 and 19 years old, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

"Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons," Gates told students and faculty at the Marine Corps War College. "Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that."

U.S. officials were now considering whether to bring the fourth pirate, who surrendered shortly before the sniper shootings, to the United States or possibly turn him over to Kenya. Both piracy and hostage-taking carry life prison sentences under U.S. law.

The French navy late Monday handed over the bodies of two Somali pirates killed last week in a hostage rescue operation, and the bodies were buried in Somali's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland.

Breaking news - Hostage Captain Rescued by US Navy

MOGADISHU - As per breaking news, U.S. naval forces rescued cargo ship captain Richard Phillips from captivity at the hands of Somali pirates in a dramatic shootout that ended a five-day standoff, the U.S. Navy said on Sunday.

The U.S. Navy said Phillips was freed unharmed and that naval forces killed three of four pirates who had held him hostage on a lifeboat after trying to seize his vessel. It said a fourth pirate was in custody.

"I can tell you that he is free and that he is safe," Navy Lieutenant Commander John Daniels said.

Initial reports from CNN said Phillips, who first tried to escape on Friday, jumped overboard just before a shootout between his captors and U.S. Navy Seals.

The U.S. Navy 5th Fleet in Bahrain said the rescue took place at 12:19 p.m. EDT (1619 GMT) and the lifeboat had drifted to about 20 miles (32 km) from lawless Somalia’s coast.

Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship, had contacted his family, received a routine medical evaluation, and was resting comfortably aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer.

"We are all absolutely thrilled to learn that Richard is safe and will be reunited with his family," Maersk Line chief executive John Reinhart said in a statement.

A photo of a smiling Phillips showed by media after his rescue.

Phillips’ crew let off flares, hoisted an American flag and jumped for joy at news of their captain’s rescue.

"We are very happy. He’s a hero," one crew member of the Maersk Alabama shouted at journalists amid raucous celebrations on the deck of the vessel, docked in Kenya’s Mombasa port.

Phillips, 53, was the first American taken captive by Somali pirate gangs who have marauded in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes for years.

Three U.S. warships had been watching the situation.

CAPTAIN, CREW "HEROIC"

President Barack Obama, spared from having another thorny foreign policy crisis added to his troubles with the U.S. economic meltdown and Afghanistan, welcomed the rescue, praised the U.S. military and vowed to curb rampant piracy.

"To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks, be prepared to interdict acts of piracy and ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes," he said in a statement.

The Maersk Alabama, a container carrying food aid for Somalis, was attacked far out in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, but its 20 American crew apparently fought off the pirates and regained control.

Phillips volunteered to go with the pirates in a Maersk Alabama lifeboat in exchange for the crew, said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

"The actions of Captain Phillips and the civilian mariners of Maersk-Alabama were heroic. They fought back to regain control of their ship, and Captain Phillips selflessly put his life in the hands of these armed criminals in order to protect his crew," he said in a statement.

Joseph Murphy, whose son, Shane, was Phillips’s second in command and took over the Alabama after pirates left with Phillips, said in a statement read by CNN, "Our prayers have been answered on this Easter Sunday."

"My son and our family will forever be indebted to Capt. Phillips for his bravery. If not for his incredible personal sacrifice, this kidnapping — an act of terror — could have turned out much worse," said Murphy.

"The captain is a hero," one crew member shouted from the 17,000-ton ship as it docked in Kenya’s Mombasa port under darkness on Saturday. "He saved our lives by giving himself up."

LEGAL SYSTEM NEEDED

Experts had expected a quick end to the standoff, but the pirates held out for both a ransom and safe passage home. Friends told Reuters the gang wanted $2 million.

The saga has thrown world attention on the long-running piracy phenomenon off Somalia that has hiked shipping insurance costs and disrupted international trade.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Program, said the rescue would change the stakes in future pirate attacks.

"This is a big wake-up to the pirates. It raises the stakes. Now they may be more violent, like the pirates of old," he said.

Pirates have generally treated hostages well, sometimes roasting goat meat for them and even passing phones round so they can call loved ones. The worst violence reported has been the occasional beating and no hostages are known to have been killed by pirates.

The drama underscored a need for new international agreements that would allow other countries to more effectively protect shipments in Somali waters and try pirates, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen told U.S. net work ABC’s "This Week".

The U.S. Justice Department said in a statement it "will be reviewing the evidence and other issues to determine whether to seek prosecution in the United States."

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."

US lost chance to escape Captain hostage by Pirates

As per breaking news updates, the US Navy missed a chance to rescue the American captain held by Somali pirates aboard a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean when he made a daring escape bid and jumped into the sea.

Captain Richard Phillips escaped through a back door in the covered lifeboat at around midnight local time and began swimming away in the dark, US officials said. At least one pirate jumped in after him and brought him back aboard the boat, which is drifting without fuel, before a nearby US destroyer, USS Bainbridge, could intervene.

The incident was captured on video by an overhead US drone. “He didn’t get very far,” one official said.

NBC News reported that several shots had been fired at Captain Phillips during the escape attempt, and that he had been seen being helped back into the lifeboat. The US Navy had asked for "proof of life" to establish that the American skipper was still alive but was not able to talk to him by radio, the network said.