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US Cargo Ship Maersk Alabama Crew Asks Obama To Hunt Pirates

by Rob Walker | April 13, 2009 at 04:57 am

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The crew of the US cargo ship Maersk Alabama spoke to media and called on president Barack Obama to help end the Somali Pirate 'scourge'. The crew managed to fend off the hijackers but they escaped with the ship's captain, Richard Phillips.

Phillips was rescued by Navy Seals after being held on a lifeboat for five days. The crew spoke with Phillips earlier on Monday after his rescue, and they say the US needs to do more to protect against pirates.

"At sea, it's a global community. We live together, we look out for each other. America has to be at the forefront of this. It' s a crisis, wake-up," said the ship's chief officer, Shane Murphy, during a brief news conference in Mombasa, Kenya.
"This crew was lucky to be out of this with every one of us alive. We're not going to be that lucky again."

NowPublic member Pythiian1 wrote about Phillip's rescue on Sunday:

According to CNN, Captain Richard Phillips has been freed after a 5-day ordeal. He has been flown by helicopter to the USS Boxer since first coming on board the USS Bainbridge. He has already undergone routine medical examination on the USS Boxer.

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Barry ORegan

at 07:06 on April 13th, 2009

Sounds like a good idea to me!~

Mary Richard

at 12:35 on April 13th, 2009

Glad it's getting the attention - it's long overdue.

A. Tran

at 15:20 on April 13th, 2009

This effort will need international cooperation and the will to control these acts of piracy.

Two weeks ago, Canadian HMCS Winnipeg tried to stop a cargo from being hijacked by dropping a sign from a helicopter asking the pirates to stop. While it worked in that instance, it's not exactly a sound deterrence to future larger bands of pirates.

The helicopter crew hung a two-foot-by-three-foot red stop sign from the side of the aircraft that says "Stop" in Somali.

``We hung it right beside (the chopper's) C-6 machine gun and they (got) the idea that we don't like what they're doing,'' Baines told the Victoria Times Colonist last Sunday.