Friday - August 14, 2009

Egypt 2 Pirates 0

The crew of two Egyptian fishing vessels overpowered Somali pirates after being held hostage for four months and, with machetes and tools, killed at least two pirates before sailing to freedom, a pirate and businessman said Friday.

The case marked a rare instance of crewmen fighting back against Somali pirates, who usually hold their hostages for months in anticipation of million-dollar ransoms.

One pirate was in custody after local fishermen found him near shore with machete wounds, police said.

A pirate who told The Associated Press he escaped the ordeal said the fight took place near the coastal town of Las Qorey off the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest waterways and where Somali pirates carry out most of their attacks.

”They attacked us with machetes and other tools, seized some of our guns and then fought with us,” the pirate, who gave only his nom de guerre, Miraa, told the AP in a telephone interview. “I could see two dead bodies of my colleagues lying on the ship. I do not know the fate of the nine others.”

Said Jama Hussein, a businessman in Las Qorey, said local fishermen told him the Egyptian ships left Thursday. He said the crew, who number up to 24, apparently took some of the pirates hostage.

Pirate attacks worldwide more than doubled in the first half of 2009 amid a surge of raids on vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia, according to an international maritime watchdog. The attacks come despite international patrols, including U.S., European, Chinese, Russian and Indian ships.

The higher attacks worldwide were due mainly to increased Somali pirate activity off the Gulf of Aden and east coast of Somalia, which combined accounts for 130 of the cases.

Awesome. Outstanding. After months of being held captive, they seized the moment and kicked some ass. And I love that they are now hold the pirates hostage. Though I doubt they’ll be able to get more than a bowlful of stale cous-cous for ransom.

I saw that “piracy has more than doubled” story a few weeks ago but didn’t get around to posting it. Funny how we used to see those stories in the news, at least online, all the time. They haven’t been in the news much at all lately, even though there are now twice as many. You don’t think the media is trying to paint a rosy picture, do you? Make the world seem more peaceful for some reason? Now, why would they want to do that?

Posted by Drew458     on 08/14/2009 at 08:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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