News

Hijacked skipper has been shot dead - pirate

November 19, 2009 Edition 2

MOGADISHU: The captain of a Virgin Islands-flagged chemical tanker hijacked earlier this week has died from gunshot wounds sustained during the seizure, a Somali pirate said yesterday.

"The captain of the chemical tanker died last night," pirate Mohamed said. "The ship is headed for Haradheere with the dead captain."

The MV Theresa VIII, which is operated from Singapore, was seized on Monday with its 28 North Korean crew.

Pirates also attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months yesterday, but guards on board the US-flagged cargo ship repelled the takeover attempt, the European Union's naval force said.

Pirates hijacked the Maersk Alabama in April and took ship captain Richard Phillips hostage, holding him at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. Navy Seal sharpshooters freed Phillips while killing three pirates in a night attack.

Somali pirates attacked the ship with automatic weapons early yesterday about 350 miles east of the Somali coast, but guards on board the craft fired back and thwarted the attempted hijacking.

Commander John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU naval force, called it pure chance that the Maersk Alabama had been attacked a second time.

"It's not the first vessel to have been attacked twice, and it's a chance that every single ship takes as it passes through the area," Harbour said.

"At least this time they had a vessel-protection detachment on board who were able to repel the attack."

Meanwhile, Spain's conservative opposition accused the government yesterday of incompetence in its handling of the hijacking of a Spanish tuna trawler by Somali pirates.

The 47-day hostage crisis ended on Tuesday when pirates freed the ship and its crew of 36, after being paid a reported $3.3 million (R24.5m) ransom.

Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy said Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's management of the crisis before, during and after the hijacking had been disastrous.

He said the government failed to heed warnings that Spanish tuna boats in the Indian Ocean lacked sufficient security, neglected families of the hostages during much of the crisis and "gave itself medals" when the ordeal concluded with the release of the hostages.

Two Spanish newspapers, El Mundo and El Pais, reported yesterday that a Spanish helicopter based on a frigate watching over the hostage release opened fire on a skiff carrying some pirates ashore to Somalia, hoping to disable it and catch them.