AFR: US sea captain freed from Somali pirates in swift firefight
By Elizabeth A Kennedy and Lara Jakes13 Apr 2009 6:16 AM
MOMBASA, Kenya, April 12 AP - An American ship captain was freed unharmed on Sunday and three of the pirates who held him for days in a lifeboat off the Somali coast were killed in a operation by US Navy Seals that was approved by President Barack Obama, officials said.
Captain Richard Phillips' crew, who said they had escaped after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired a flare in celebration.
The US Navy's 5th Fleet said Phillips is resting comfortably on a US warship after receiving a medical exam.
US officials said Obama ordered the Defence Department to use military resources to rescue Phillips. Obama said the captain has courage that's "a model for all Americans". The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not yet authorised to disclose the president's decision-making process.
Obama said he's pleased that Phillips was rescued, adding that the United States needs help from other countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable.
The Navy said Phillips was freed at 7:19pm local time on Sunday (0219 AEDT Monday). He was taken aboard the Norfolk, Virginia-based USS Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for the medical exam, 5th Fleet spokesman Lieutenant Nathan Christensen said.
Christensen said Phillips is now "resting comfortably". The USS Boxer is in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia, Christensen said.
The US did not say if Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was receiving medical care because he had been injured or if he was being treated for exposure after his ordeal.
US officials said a pirate who had been involved in negotiations to free Phillips but who was not on the lifeboat during the rescue is in military custody. FBI spokesman John Miller said that will change as the situation becomes "more of a criminal issue than a military issue".
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said prosecutors are looking at "evidence and other issues" to determine whether to bring a case in the United States. The pirate could face a life sentence if convicted, officials said.
Phillips' crew of 19 American sailors reached safe harbour in Kenya's northeast port of Mombasa on Saturday night under guard of US Navy Seals, exhilarated by their freedom but mourning the absence of Phillips.
Crew members said their ordeal had begun with the Somali pirates hauling themselves up from a small boat bobbing on the surface of the Indian Ocean far below.
As the pirates shot in the air, Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said.
Phillips was then held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was closely watched by US warships and a helicopter in an increasingly tense standoff. On Friday, the French navy freed a sailboat seized off Somalia last week by other pirates, but one of the five hostages was killed.
Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat on Friday and tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured when a pirate fired an automatic weapon at or near him, according to US Defence Department officials.
Early on Saturday, the pirates holding Phillips in the lifeboat fired a few shots at a small US Navy vessel that had approached, a US military official.
The official said the US sailors did not return fire, the Navy vessel turned away and no one was hurt. He said the vessel had not been attempting a rescue. The pirates were believed armed with pistols and AK-47 assault rifles.
Pirates are holding about a dozen ships with more than 200 crew members, according to the Malaysia-based piracy watchdog International Maritime Bureau.
