CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
Naval spokesmen and the company gave conflicting accounts of the number of crew on board. NATO and the EU’s Naval Force said there were 25: a Bulgarian, a Slovak, an Indian, 15 Filipinos and seven Ukrainians. But the company said there were only 24, and there was no Slovak on board.
Warships typically do not intervene in hijackings because crews may be hit by crossfire. Forces intervened in this case because the ship had registered with naval authorities, was traveling along a recommended transit corridor and was part of a group transit, ensuring the ships had a helicopter within 30 minutes’ reaction time, Harbour said.
Other EU and US forces have intervened in pirate hostage situations, but not during the hijacking itself.
French commandos stormed a yacht last April with five hostages on board but one, skipper Florent Lemacon, was killed during the operation. US snipers also shot dead three pirates in April 2009 holding an American captain hostage on board a lifeboat after the crew of the Maersk Alabama had persuaded the pirates to leave the main ship.
Somali pirates have seized three ships this year and hold a total of nine vessels and more than 180 crew.
RSS