NAIROBI: Pentagon officials said Wednesday that the American crew of a
US-flagged cargo ship had retaken control from Somali pirates who hijacked the
vessel far off the Horn of Africa.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because information was still
preliminary. But they said the hijacked crew had apparently contacted the
private company that operates the ship.
At a noon news conference, Maersk Line Ltd. CEO John Reinhart said that the
company was working to contact families of the crew.
'Speculation is a dangerous thing when you're in a fluid environment. I will not
confirm that the crew has overtaken this ship,' he said.
A US official said the crew had retaken control and had one pirate in custody.
The official said the status of the other pirates was unknown but they were
reported to 'be in the water.' The official spoke on condition of anonymity due
to the sensitivity of the matter.
The ship was carrying emergency relief to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was hijacked,
said Peter Beck-Bang, spokesman for the Copenhagen-based container shipping
group A.P. Moller-Maersk.
It was the sixth vessel seized within a week, a rise that analysts attribute to
a new strategy by Somali pirates who are operating far from the warships
patrolling the Gulf of Aden.
Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the US Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet,
said that it was the first pirate attack 'involving US nationals and a
US-flagged vessel in recent memory.' She did not give an exact timeframe.
The US Navy said that the ship was hijacked early Wednesday about 280 miles
southeast of Eyl, a town in the northern Puntland region of Somalia. |
|
