Standoff with pirates for hostage
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 10, 2009 00:00
NAIROBI, Kenya - A U.S. destroyer kept watch yesterday on a drifting lifeboat where Somali pirates were holding an American ship captain hostage, a day after bandits hijacked a U.S.-flagged vessel before 20 crew members overpowered them.
The pirates took Capt. Richard Phillips as a hostage as they escaped the Maersk Alabama into a lifeboat in the first such attack on American sailors in around 200 years. Negotiations were believed to be under way, a relative of the captain said, but it was not clear who was conducting them.
One senior Pentagon official, speaking on grounds of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, described the incident now as a "somewhat of a standoff."
Kevin Speers, a spokesman for the ship company Maersk, said the pirates have made no demands yet to the company. He said the safe return of the abducted captain is now its top priority.
The USS Bainbridge had arrived off the Horn of Africa near where the pirates were floating near the Maersk, he said. "It's on the scene at this point," Speers said of the Bainbridge, adding that the lifeboat holding the pirates and the captain is out of fuel. "The boat is dead in the water," he said. "It's floating near the Alabama. It's my understanding that it's floating freely." Phillips' family was gathered at his Vermont farmhouse, watching news reports and taking telephone calls from the U.S. State Department to learn if he would be freed. "We are on pins and needles," said Gina Coggio, half-sister of Phillips' wife.
One senior Pentagon official, speaking on grounds of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, described the incident now as a "somewhat of a standoff."
Kevin Speers, a spokesman for the ship company Maersk, said the pirates have made no demands yet to the company. He said the safe return of the abducted captain is now its top priority.
The USS Bainbridge had arrived off the Horn of Africa near where the pirates were floating near the Maersk, he said. "It's on the scene at this point," Speers said of the Bainbridge, adding that the lifeboat holding the pirates and the captain is out of fuel. "The boat is dead in the water," he said. "It's floating near the Alabama. It's my understanding that it's floating freely." Phillips' family was gathered at his Vermont farmhouse, watching news reports and taking telephone calls from the U.S. State Department to learn if he would be freed. "We are on pins and needles," said Gina Coggio, half-sister of Phillips' wife.