Thread: Real Life Pirate Attacks on the Rise

THere have been more than 30 ships taken by pirates this year.

12 of those are still being held.

The Cargo ship taken off the coast of Yemen earlier today was reportedly loaded with wheat, and is now sailing towards Somalia.

This ship also has a crew of about 25, who are now hostages.

The U.S. Navy says a cargo ship has been hijacked off the Somalia coast — the latest in a series of attacks by pirates operating out of the African country.
Navy Commander Jane Campbell of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet says the 26,000-ton bulk cargo carrier was attacked Tuesday in the Gulf of Aden.
She says the ship was flying a Hong Kong flag but is operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
The status of the crew or its cargo were not known. Campbell says the ship is likely heading toward an anchorage site off the Somali coast.

The wheat-loaded Delight, bound for Iran, had 25 crew members on board and was captured off the coast of Yemen, Reuters reported.
The hijacking comes just days after a Saudi oil supertanker was hijacked and anchored off a Somali port.
The ship was carrying wheat to Iran's Bandar Abbas port, Reuters cites a Chinese news agency as reporting.

ANOTHER ONE

A Thai ship - the Ekawat Nava 5 - has been attacked and taken by pirates. Her 16 crew members are now being held by the pirates.

The ship, loaded with fishing equipment, made a distress call saying it was being chased by pirates in two speedboats. The call was terminated abruptly.

The total number of ships taken by piracy this year is now 39, including the four taken THIS WEEK.

Sixteen of those 39 are still being held. There are around 300 crew members of the 16 vessels still in the hands of the pirates.

In another incident, a band of pirates actually opened fire on an Indian naval vessel, which was able to drive it off.

The Indian navy said the pirates fired on the INS Tabar after the officers asked it to stop to be searched. Indian forces fired back, destroying the ship, and then chased one of the speed boats, which was later found abandoned. The other escaped, according to a navy statement.

The African Union is reportedly requesting that U.N. Peacekeepers be deployed to Somalia.

UPDATE

The pirates holding the Supertanker, along with its 25 crew members (and its 2 million bbl of oil) are now demanding that a ransom of $25,000,000 be paid within 10 days, or, they say, something "disastrous" will happen.

The AP reported yesterday that the Greek ship that was siezed on September 26th nas now been freed, anad that the crew members are safe!


It has apparently not been made known whether a ransom was paid, but it's a pretty safe bet that one was.

Some of the Indian crew members from that Greek ship which was recently freed (ransom WAS paid) are now speaking to the media.

They describe the pirates as young "animals" in their 20's and 30's.

The crew were held at gunpoint 24 hours a day for nearly two months... they were even accompanied to the bathroom with a gun toting pirate.

They said they were all kept on the bridge... and only left to go to the bathroom, again with a gun pointed directly at them.