Pirates hijack US tugboat - Breaking news updates

NAIROBI, Kenya — According to breaking news updates, the head of a Kenyan seafarers' program said Saturday that Somali pirates had hijacked an American-owned tugboat with 16 crew in the Gulf of Aden.

Nairobi-based Italian Ambassador Pierandrea Magistrati said he only could confirm that "there is a boat that has been hijacked, I believe by Somali pirates."

The hijacking took place as the American captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama was still being held hostage on a lifeboat being watched by two U.S. warships.

The head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program, Andrew Mwangura, said maritime industry sources had informed his organization that the Italian-flagged U.S. tugboat was towing two barges when it was attacked. He said it was unclear if the attack took place off the coast of Somalia or further north near Yemen. He said did not know what was on the barges.

Mwangura said the attack was launched around 11 a.m. (0800 GMT) Saturday.

More U.S. warships were trying to stop Somali pirates from sending reinforcements to the lifeboat where the American captain was being held for a fourth day hundreds of miles from land, a diplomat said Saturday.

The Nairobi-based diplomat, who receives regular briefings on the situation, said the four pirates holding Capt. Richard Phillips in a lifeboat under the close watch of U.S. warships some 380 miles off shore had tried to summon other pirates from the Somali mainland.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said that pirates had been trying to reach the lifeboat. A Somali who described himself as having close ties to pirate networks also said the pirates were trying to reach the lifeboat.

The Somali told The Associated Press that pirates had set out in four commandeered ships with hostages from a variety of nations including the Philippines, Russia and Germany. The diplomat told the AP that large pirate "motherships" and skiffs were heading in the direction of the lifeboat.

A second Somali man who said he had spoken by satellite phone to a pirate piloting a seized German freighter told the AP by phone Saturday that the pirate captain had reported being blocked by U.S. forces and was returning Saturday to the pirate stronghold of Harardhere.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, he said the pirate told him the ship was in sight of a U.S. Navy destroyer Saturday morning local time, received a U.S. warning not to come any closer and, fearing attack, left the scene without ever seeing the lifeboat.

A Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations said in Washington Saturday morning that there had been no developments overnight. He declined to comment on the report that the U.S. Navy had turned back the pirates.

The diplomat said from Nairobi that at least two American ships and U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft had been attempting to deter pirate ships and skiffs from contact with the lifeboat but he did not know if the pirates and Navy ships had come into contact.

The Somali man said the pirate also told him that two other commandeered ships from Taiwan and Greece that were trying to reach the lifeboat feared a showdown with the U.S. Navy and returned to Eyl, a port that serves as a pirate hub, on Friday night. It was not immediately possible to contact people in Eyl Saturday.

The Somali man said the fourth ship that had tried to reach the lifeboat was a Norwegian tanker that was released Friday after a $2 million ransom was paid. The owner of the Norwegian tanker Bow Asir confirmed Friday that it had been released two weeks after it was seized by armed pirates off the Somali coast, and all 27 of its crew members were unhurt.

Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was seized Wednesday when he thwarted the takeover of the 17,000-ton U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama, which was carrying food aid for hungry people in Somalia, Rwanda and Uganda. He told his crew of 20 to lock themselves in a cabin, crew members told stateside relatives.

Phillips surrendered himself to safeguard his men. The crew later overpowered some of the pirates but the Somalis fled with the captain to an enclosed lifeboat, the relatives said.

The Alabama was heading toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa — its original destination — with 20 American crew members aboard. It was expected to arrive Saturday night, said Joseph Murphy, whose son is second-in-command of the vessel.

On Friday, Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat and tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured when a pirate fired an automatic weapon at or near him, according to U.S. Defense Department officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the sensitive, unfolding operations.

Negotiations had been taking place between the pirates and the captain of the Bainbridge, who was getting direction from FBI hostage negotiators, the officials said.

Sailors on the USS Bainbridge, which has rescue helicopters and lifeboats, were able to see Phillips but at several hundred yards away were too far to help him. The U.S. destroyer is keeping its distance, in part to stay out of the pirates' range of fire.

The lifeboat has some gas and the ability to move, according to U.S. defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive details.

U.S. sailors saw Phillips moving around and talking after his return to the lifeboat, and the Defense Department officials said they think he is unharmed.

The Bainbridge was joined Friday by the USS Halyburton, which has helicopters, and the huge, amphibious USS Boxer was expected soon after, the defense officials said. The Boxer, the flagship of a multination anti-piracy task force, resembles a small aircraft carrier. It has a crew of more than 1,000, a mobile hospital, missile launchers and about two dozen helicopters and attack planes.

The vice president of the Philippines, the nation with the largest number of sailors held captive by Somali pirates, appealed for the safety of hostages to be ensured in the standoff.

"We hope that before launching any tactical action against the pirates, the welfare of every hostage is guaranteed and ensured," said Vice President Noli de Castro. "Moreover, any military action is best done in consultation with the United Nations to gain the support and cooperation of other countries."

France's navy on Friday freed a sailboat seized off Somalia last week by other pirates, but one of the hostages was killed.

France's defense minister promised an autopsy and investigation into the death of the hostage killed during the commando operation, which freed four other captives and was prompted by threats the passengers would be executed.

The pirates had seized the sailboat carrying Florent Lemacon, his wife, 3-year-old son and two friends off the Somali coast a week ago.

Two pirates were killed, and Lemacon died in an exchange of fire as he tried to duck down the hatch. Three pirates were taken prisoner in the operation, and are to be brought to France for criminal proceedings.

Piracy along the anarchic and impoverished Somali coast, the longest in Africa, has risen in recent years.

Somali pirates have been seizing ships with many hostages and anchoring it near shore, where they have quickly escaped to land and begun negotiations for multimillion-dollar ransoms.

They hold about a dozen ships with more than 200 crew members, according to the International Maritime Bureau, a piracy watchdog group based in Malaysia. The bureau lists 66 attacks since January, not including the Alabama.

hostage recaptured - Somali pirates move to aid comrades

MOGADISHU - As per breaking news updates, Pirates sailed a hijacked German freighter toward a lifeboat off Somalia early on Saturday to help four comrades holding an American ship captain hostage under the gaze of a U.S. destroyer.

Separately, French special forces stormed a yacht held by pirates elsewhere in the lawless stretch of the Indian Ocean in an assault that killed one hostage, but freed four others.

Two pirates were killed and three were captured.

More U.S. warships have been sent toward the lifeboat drifting in international waters off Somalia, where pirates have been holding American captain Richard Phillips since an attempt to hijack his ship, the 17,000-tonne, Danish-owned Maersk Alabama, on Wednesday.

Phillips apparently volunteered to get in the lifeboat with the pirates in exchange for the safety of his crew, who regained control of the ship, which is carrying food relief to Kenya.

Phillips leapt into the sea during the night and tried to swim away but at least one pirate quickly followed and he was hauled back onto the lifeboat, a U.S. official said.

"He didn't get very far," the official told Reuters.

Close by, the destroyer USS Bainbridge launched drones that monitored the incident and kept radio contact with the pirates. The Bainbridge, which is leading negotiations for Philips' release, is seeking a peaceful outcome to the standoff with the assistance of FBI experts, a U.S. official said.

The pirate gang holding Phillips remained defiant despite the arrival of U.S. and other naval ships in the area.

"We are not afraid of the Americans," one of the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone. "We will defend ourselves if attacked."

$2 MILLION RANSOM

The pirates are demanding $2 million for his release and a guarantee of their own safety, a pirate source said.

The source told Reuters from the Somali fishing port of Haradheere that another group who hijacked the 20,000-tonne German container vessel, the Hansa Stavanger, a week ago were heading to the scene of the standoff.

"Knowing that the Americans will not destroy this German ship and its foreign crew, they hope they can meet their friends on the lifeboat," said the pirate, who has given reliable information in the past but asked not to be named.

The German ship was seized off south Somalia between Kenya and the Seychelles and has a crew of 24.

Officials in Washington confirmed that reinforcements were nearby. The frigate USS Halyburton, equipped with guided missiles and helicopters, and a German frigate had arrived in the area of the standoff, they said.

The USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, was also heading for the lifeboat's general area, mainly in case its medical facilities were required.

In France, the government stood by its raid to free the sailing boat, which was hijacked en route to Zanzibar last weekend with two couples and a 3-year-old child aboard.

"During the operation, a hostage sadly died," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office. But it said the president "confirms France's determination not to give into blackmail and to defeat the pirates.

LAWLESS WATERS

Phillips is one of about 270 hostages being held by Somali pirates preying on the busy sea-lanes of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Somalia has suffered 18 years of civil conflict since warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and the international waters off the Horn of Africa have become some of the most dangerous in the world.

Last year there were 42 ship hijackings off Somalia, which disrupted shipping, delayed food aid to East Africa and raised insurance costs. Some cargo ships have been diverted to travel around South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal.

The hijackings brought a massive international response, with ships from the United States, Europe, China, Japan and others flocking to the region to protect the sea routes.

Maritime groups say the likeliest outcome from the U.S. hostage saga is a negotiated solution, possibly involving safe passage in exchange for the captive.

U.S. Somalia expert Ken Menkhaus said the best outcome would be for the German ship to be allowed to pick up Phillips and his captors and take them to shore, and for a ransom to be paid for the American.

"It would mean no loss of life and no risk to the lives of the other hostages. And at the end of the day an insurance company would be out $2 million -- probably just $1 million after negotiations," Menkhaus said.

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."