Pirates Of Somali
Indian Ocean — It is like some kind-of retro Pirates of the Caribbean meets a futuristic War of the Worlds. Somali pirates have attacked ships from Norway, Germany, North Korea, France, the Philippines, Russia and the United States to name a few. They hold over 250 hostages. The most recent kidnapping is of a U.S. captain. The pirates originally overtook the whole crew; however, the captain negotiated that he be taken hostage in exchange for the release of the crew. The pirates escaped on a lifeboat with the captain. Later, the captain tried to escape by jumping overboard. The pirates fired weapons and re-captured him. Now, the U.S. is sending in the Navy. Two warships are on the scene and a third with 12 attack helicopters is on the way. The FBI and CIA are also intervening. Ironically, the unarmed U.S. ship was carrying relief supplies for Kenya.
The cargo ships are unarmed for insurance reasons. If the crews were to arm themselves, insurance rates would skyrocket.
Over the weekend, one of the pirates was taken prisoner. The three remaining pirates appeared to be putting the captain’s life in “imminent danger.” In the dark of night and on rough seas, U.S. snipers killed the pirates.