Somali pirates hijack ship, British guards escape

[DogPoundPup]

Source: Yahoo News

NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali pirates hijacked a chemical tanker with dozens of Indian crew members Friday and a helicopter rescued three British security guards who had jumped into the sea, officials said.

A warship on patrol nearby sent helicopters to intervene in the attack, but they arrived after pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged ship, according to Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.

The ship master had sent a distress call to the piracy reporting center, which relayed the alert to international forces policing Somali waters, Choong said. No details about how the pirates attacked or the condition of the crew were available immediately.

Choong said the ship was being operated out of Singapore.

Still on board were 25 Indian and two Bangladeshi crew members, said diplomats who could not be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. The British security guards escaped by jumping into the water, said a news release issued by their company, Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_on_re_af/af_piracy

[panader0]

1. So the "Security Solution" is jumping overboard?

Another bailout.

[slackmaster]

2. I guess the guards were overwhelmed

:shrug:

[ohio2007]

3. maybe they "walked the plank". so much for hiring THAT security agency

(German) Navy chopper fishes pirate victims out of sea

The three crewmen belonged to The Biscaglia, believed to be a chemical and oil tanker that was in the gulf off the Horn of Africa. The ship was attacked early in the morning by five pirates, said Jean-Marc Le Quilliec, commander of the French frigate Nivose. The men escaped the attack by jumping overboard and were rescued, he said

http://www.thelocal.de/national/20081128-15779.html

[Oerdin]

4. I'm afraid...

The only real solution to piracy is to go 19th century on their asses by raiding their home ports and burning everything to the ground. It worked with the Barbary Pirates.

[Ezana]

6. The Pirates are out fishing because their home ports are burned to the ground and their livlihood is

destroyed.

[Ian David]

5. Remind me never to hire the British security guards who jump overboard. n/t

[slackmaster]

7. At least the water is warm in that part of the world

:nuke:

[robbibaba]

8. They were unarmed...

At least that's what I read in one article. Maybe they were there to keep the crew from mischief? Why have unarmed guards in pirate infested waters?
Seems to me this situation could be a real boon for weapons dealers. All the tankers could be outfitted with the latest pirate killing weaponry at a fraction of the cost of the ransoms being paid.

[ohio2007]

9. You could say the captain refused t give up the weapons locker key.

bet he didn't trust those Jacks in the long run.

It's a power thing.

[Arctic Dave]

10. AD's tinfoil hat time.

Piracy has been around since people have first floated the oceans. It seems awfully suspicious that lately we have been given non-stop "pirate" stories from this side of the world, when in fact, piracy happens just as frequently in the Caribbean(although on smaller vessels). Is this an attempt to condition the public to require a continued large US Naval presence in the Middle East? Hmmm?

If anyone has seen a Supertanker you would know that boarding one one the open ocean is not an easy task without formal training in doing so or without a helicopter.

[SemperEadem]

11. given that it is no secret that there is a pirate infestation

in that part of the world, it seems to me that ships in that area would be heavily armed with the means to force these vessels to identify themselves or be sent to Davy Jones' locker.

and it's probably a good idea to no longer employ this security company in the future.

[Historic NY]

12. So much for guards...

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. So much for kid gloves

One carrier group, sanctioned by the UN, could end this stupid shit in less than 24 hours. Toothless Somali pirate hoisting an
RPG? Meet guided missile from destroyer you can't even see on the horizon. The pirates' boldness will be their undoing.

[Shipwack]

14. Cost/benefit hasn't reached the tipping point for that solution.

A carrier group (heck, even a small task force without the CV) is very expensive to maintain. Plus, the carriers are busy elsewhere. Dang, it -almost- makes me wish that we had that 14 carrier navy that Reagan wanted (not really; but it would be useful in this case).

First, how do you identify the pirate ship? A pirate ship looks identical to a fishing or small merchant vessel. You can't identify them from a distance like you can a warship. The only way to -possibly- identify them is by boarding inspections, which are manpower intensive. Even then, you might not be able to identify them by what weapons they carry. Pirates in Persian Gulf take raid ships with -machetes-.

Second, that's a lot of water to cover. Getting enough ships to cover it will, again, be expensive. I can also see fake messages of help being placed to lure he task force away from the real targets.

You are right though, that the pirates are getting cocky. If they had any brains they'd scale things back for a bit, but I'm willing to bet that their leadership didn't get to be in charge by advocating low profit (but long term sustainable) operations.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. Sink anything that doesn't identify itself appropriately.

Recon with Hawkeyes, or Predators. Big fish, small barrel.

[Shipwack]

16. And you are going to get translators from...?

I think you missed the points of my post.

Hawkeye surveillance craft need a platform i.e. ship (with helo pad and facilities)to launch from. Both are in short supply. Predator production is having trouble meeting expenditures in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plus you need to have something to launch them toward; launching randomly is useless because the open ocean is -not- a "small barrel", and the vessels the pirates use are not "big fish"

There is a shortage Defense Department linguists in the Persian Gulf as it is; we don't have any to spare for another theater. Or do you propose sinking any vessel that doesn't speak English?

Also, small legitimate fishing boats don't necessarily know the International Rules of the road. Are you going to sink some fisherman with a fifth grade education because he doesn't know official bridge to bridge protocol?

And as I said earlier, it is -not- "Big fish, small barrel". It is exactly the opposite. This is coming from my 20 years of Navy experience (which includes a short stint with the Fifth Fleet involving anti-piracy operations, among other things)