Thanks to Gary for sending me this. The thing that really got me with this, and with Gary, is that this crew was put in this position of fighting for their lives and having to kill these pirates. We are talking about seaman from all around the world, who are not trained, who are unarmed, and all they wanted to do was work on a boat and feed their families.
It disgusts me that companies continue this practice of sending their folks into harms way, and not providing adequate protections for them. They spend thousands of dollars on safety training for their employees, or on life saving gear like rescue boats or dry suits for cold water. But when it comes to giving their folks the means to protect themselves from piracy attacks, or to contract with a professional security force to protect them, they fall short. And because there is no protections provided, you have crews like this that had to live with such a horrific experience. (surviving captivity, killing pirates, etc.) I guarantee that the shipping company CEO’s would be singing a different tune if they had to go through the same experience as this crew.
Contracting armed security should be required, just like it is required to have safety equipment on these ships. It is the cost of doing business in today’s violent seas and anything less is unacceptable. –Matt
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Crew reclaim ship from Somali pirates
Jun 3, 2010
The crew of a Libyan-owned cargo ship pounced on their sleeping Somali captors, disarmed the pirates and killed five of them, regaining control of their vessel that had been hijacked almost three months earlier, officials said.
A sixth pirate who survived the attack by the MV Rim crew managed to lock himself in a room and call other pirates to say they had been overpowered before the crew took him hostage, said Abdiaziz Aw Yusuf, the Garacad district commissioner. Garacad is the coastal town near which the MV Rim has been anchored.
A crew member was seriously injured during the struggle, the European Union’s anti-piracy naval force said in a statement. The crew had reported to the force that they had retaken control of the ship on Wednesday morning. The EU said it is believed some of the pirates were killed during the incident.
EU force commander Rear Adm. Jan Thornqvist then sent the closest warship, the SPS Victoria, to provide medical assistance. A group of pirates on another hijacked vessel tried to block the warship, the statement said, but when the warship’s helicopter approached the pirates, they changed course. The statement added that no warning shots were fired.
The MV Rim was seized on February 3 in the Gulf of Aden, outside the internationally recommended transit corridor patrolled by the anti-piracy naval coalition. The 4800-ton ship is owned by White Sea Shipping of Libya and is carrying unknown cargo. The number and nationalities of its crew are also not known.
Earlier Wednesday, Somali pirates hijacked a cargo ship, the QSM Dubai in the Gulf of Aden, the EU anti-piracy naval force said in a statement. The ship has a crew of 24 – Egyptians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Ghanaians. The ship, which is flying a Panamanian flag, sailed from Brazil.
Somali pirates are currently holding at least 20 vessels.
The Horn of Africa nation’s 19 years of lawlessness has allowed piracy to flourish, with pirates earning multimillion dollar ransoms.
Story here.
Once again Matt you make a good point. Notice how banks use armored vehicles and armed guards to pick up private bank rolls from various businesses. That is because insurance companies almost require it, even though the amount, comparable to what is on a huge oil tanker, is fairly small. $20,000 here, $55,000 there at each pick up. Yet an oil tanker, with millions upon millions of dollars of oil/LNG/petro, is let unguarded. If insurance companies required it, or at least reduce the insurance rate for those companies that used professionals, we would see more contractors aboard ships.
Comment by Jason A — Friday, June 4, 2010 @ 5:04 AM
Yeah, I am still scratching my head as to why this continues. What I fear is that one of these days a pirate company will sell a recently captured boat to the highest bidder. Imagine a chemical tanker in the hands of Al Qaeda, and being ran into a coastal city. These guys could do all sorts of interesting things with such a craft, and the sale of the craft could include the hostages? Imagine AQ chopping heads off on the bow of some ship, all for the youtube crowd's viewing pleasure?
Another thing I was thinking about the other day, is the BP disaster is not in a bubble. Meaning all those hundreds of platforms out there in the gulf, or anywhere in the world, could be attacked by martyrdom ships. Large vessels being controlled by terrorists, and ramming right into these platforms to take them out. The explosion would kill infidels, and the resulting disaster would equal what is happening right now with the BP disaster. We must protect these boats from this type of attack from happening. Putting armed crews on these ships, would increase the chances of stopping such horrific attacks.
Comment by headjundi — Friday, June 4, 2010 @ 5:18 AM