Somali buccaneers were able to grab the German freighter Beluga Fortune on Sunday. The ship’s crew fled to a panic room, cut the engines and shut off the power, which disappointed the pirates into abandoning their crime the following day. Somalia’s lack of a functioning government has permitted piracy to flourish and assaults hit a five-year high this year.
Pirates stop the Beluga Fortune
From the United Arab Emirates, the Beluga Fortune was on its way to South Africa. Out of nowhere, an attack originated from Somali pirates. According to the Associated Press, the vessel had been close to Mombasa, Kenya. It had been only 1,200 east of the Region too. Reuters accounts that when the buccaneers fired on the vessel, the freighter’s 16-man team sent out a distress call and locked themselves in a panic room intended for protection from such an attack. The crew had been able to turn off the engines from the room. They also disabled the bridge and cut off fuel.
Panic room helps make pirates angry
In Sept, pirates took the German Ship Magellan Star in which a panic room made them angry before. According to Spiegal Online International, the crew all went to a safety room which had been hard to break into and harder to find which had been 22 hrs before the American soldiers freed them. Food, drinks, medical equipment and supplies were all in the room beforehand. There was a satellite phone that kept the captain in contact with the ship’s owners. It also had a secret emergency exit in case they needed to abandon ship. The Magellan Star’s owner talked to Spiegal and said, “the pirates called our shipping company in desperation, wanting to know where the team was.”
the pirates down in Somali
Shipping off of Somalia is hard since there are so numerous Somali pirates there. Since 1991 when Somalia’s govt collapsed, there are buccaneers like these. 19 ships and 428 hostages are being kept captive by the Somali pirates, reports the European Union Naval force. According to the Strategy Page, the Somali buccaneers do lots of pirate assaults. In fact, within the last year 44 percent of pirate assaults originated from them. There has only been one death this year for a team member. 27 others are injured though. 773 sailors are kept for ransom though.
Citations
Reuters
reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69O3PB20101025
Associated Press
google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jhf_eEAne8QCbP_9nViK4DY-n1MA?docId=115bc0cbadeb42168886f496e28510be
Strategy Page
strategypage.com/htmw/htseamo/articles/20101025.aspx
Jeff-goodall
jeff-goodall.com/?p=2241
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