US captain freed amid revenge call
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Reuters
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 14, 2009 00:00
MOGADISHU - U.S. Navy special forces freed an American ship's captain and killed three Somali pirates holding him hostage in a lifeboat, ending a five-day standoff but drawing vows of revenge from pirates.
Richard Phillips was just one of more than 250 hostages of many nationalities being held by pirates who have seized dozens of vessels, from oil tankers to luxury yachts, in recent months.
"They killed our friends on the lifeboat and we thought helicopters would bomb us in Eyl last night," a pirate in Eyl, who called himself Farah, said. "We were mourning for dead friends and then roaring planes came - grief-upon-grief. America has become our new enemy."
The U.S. Navy said Phillips' life was in danger when snipers aboard a U.S. destroyer shot his captors on Sunday, freeing him unharmed and killing three of four pirates who had taken him after trying to seize his vessel. The fourth was in custody. "They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.
"The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision and he had the authorities to make that decision." Philips tried to escape on Friday, and tense hostage talks had been under way as the lifeboat drifted, circled by U.S. warships, some 20 miles (32 km) from the Somali coast.
President Barack Obama granted the Pentagon's request for standing authority to use appropriate force, Gortney said. Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship, contacted his family after the rescue, received a medical check, and was resting aboard the USS Boxer.
"They killed our friends on the lifeboat and we thought helicopters would bomb us in Eyl last night," a pirate in Eyl, who called himself Farah, said. "We were mourning for dead friends and then roaring planes came - grief-upon-grief. America has become our new enemy."
The U.S. Navy said Phillips' life was in danger when snipers aboard a U.S. destroyer shot his captors on Sunday, freeing him unharmed and killing three of four pirates who had taken him after trying to seize his vessel. The fourth was in custody. "They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain," Vice Admiral William Gortney, head of the U.S. Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.
"The on-scene commander took it as the captain was in imminent danger and then made that decision and he had the authorities to make that decision." Philips tried to escape on Friday, and tense hostage talks had been under way as the lifeboat drifted, circled by U.S. warships, some 20 miles (32 km) from the Somali coast.
President Barack Obama granted the Pentagon's request for standing authority to use appropriate force, Gortney said. Phillips, captain of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship, contacted his family after the rescue, received a medical check, and was resting aboard the USS Boxer.