News

Hijacked captain dies on board

November 19, 2009 Edition 1

The captain of a Virgin Islands-owned chemical tanker hijacked earlier this week has died of gunshot wounds.

The ship was sailing for Haradheere, Somalia, with the captain's body, said a pirate, named only as "Mohamed".

The MV Theresa VIII was seized with its crew of 28 North Koreans on Monday.

Meanwhile, pirates also attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months yesterday, but guards on the US-flagged cargo ship repelled them, the EU naval force announced.

The Maersk Alabama was hijacked in April and its captain, Richard Phillips, taken hostage and held at gunpoint in a lifeboat for five days. US Navy Seal sharpshooters freed Phillips in a night attack in which they killed three pirates.

Pirates with automatic weapons struck again early yesterday about 350 nautical miles east of Somalia, but the guards on board fired back and thwarted them.

Commander John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU naval force, said it was "pure chance" that the Maersk Alabama had been targeted a second time.

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

"This time the ship (the Maersk Alabama) had a vessel protection detachment on board who were able to repel the attack,"

Spain's conservative opposition has accused the government 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 receiving a reported $3.3 million (R24.5m) ransom.

Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy said that Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's management of the crisis had been disastrous.

He said the government had failed to heed warnings that Spanish tuna boats lacked sufficient security, had neglected the families of the hostages during much of the crisis, and "gave itself medals" when the hostages were freed.

He was surprised the Spanish naval forces overseeing the freeing of the hostages and ship had not arrested any pirates.

A spokesman for the ruling Socialist Party said the conservatives should be suggesting ways to avert a recurrence, rather than trying to score points. - Sapa-AP-Reuters