US ship crew repel Somali pirates

Maersk Line confirmed that the crew had retaken control of the hijacked ship [AFP]
Somali pirates who attempted to hijack a US-flagged, Danish-owned container ship have been repelled by the vessel's 20-strong US crew.But the pirates, who attempted the hijack off the east coast of Africa on Wednesday, managed to capture the captain and were holding him hostage.The high seas standoff drew an expression of concern from Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, who called on the world to unite to "end the scourge of piracy"."Specifically, we are now focused on this particular act of piracy and the seizure of the ship that carries 21 American citizens. More generally, we think the world must come together to end the scourge of piracy," she said.
US sends warship
Lieutenant-Colonel Elizabeth Hibner, a Pentagon spokesperson, said on Wednesday that the US Navy warship Bainbridge was en route to the scene.Maersk Line, the US subsidiary of Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk which owns the ship, confirmed that the crew had regained control of the 17,000-tonne Maersk Alabama after the pirates left the ship with one hostage.Security firms hired to take on pirates.A spokesman said no injuries had been reported for the crew left on board.Ken Quinn, the second mate on the 17,000-tonne Maersk Alabama, said by telephone that crew members were trying to negotiate the captain's release.Quinn said all four pirates were on a lifeboat with the captain having sunk their own boat after boarding the container vessel.He said the captain had talked the four pirates into getting off the ship and into the lifeboat with him.The crew then overpowered one of the pirates and sought to exchange him for the captain, but the attempted swap failed, with the crew releasing their captive but the pirates still holding the captain, he told US broadcaster CNN.Among the ship's cargo were 400 containers of food aid, including 232 containers belonging to the UN World Food Programme that were destined for Somalia and Uganda.
Attacks resume
The Maersk hijacking comes just days after armed men took control of a British-owned ship, and the seizure of three other ships over the weekend.There had been a relative lull in the number of hijackings in the first three months of 2009, with eight ships overrun by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, a major shipping route between the southern and northern hemispheres.Somali pirates last year seized dozens of vessels close to the Somali coastline in their attempt to secure ransom payments, taking hundreds of sailors hostage.The drop in the number of successful pirate attacks in the past three months was largely due to the increased presence of foreign navies in the area.But the pirates have begun looking as far as the Seychelles in order to find unguarded ships to attack.The gangs use speedboats launched from "mother ships" to give them an advantage over foreign navies patrolling the shipping lanes.Pirates last year seized a Saudi supertanker containing $100m worth of crude oil.
The Sirius Star and its 25 crew were freed in January after $3m was dropped on to its deck.Last September, a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33 Soviet-era T-72 tanks was also hijacked. It was released five months later after $3.2m was reportedly paid as a ransom.