Tugboat with crew of 16 hijacked by Somali pirates (2nd Roundup)

Apr 11, 2009, 17:34 GMT

Nairobi - Pirates hijacked a tugboat, the Buccaneer, off the coast of Somalia four days after the failed attempt to capture the US commercial ship Maersk Alabama, Italian media reported Saturday.

The owner of the 75-metre tugboat, Micoperi Marine Contractors based in the Italian city of Ravenna, said the tugboat had a crew of 16, composed of 10 Italians, five Romanians and a Croatian, and was heading to Singapore via the Suez canal.

Earlier reports from the British Broadcasting Corporation said that the vessel, towing two barges at the time of the attack, was US- owned and flying under an Italian flag.

There were no reports of injuries in the attack.

The Italian Foreign Ministry said its reaction to the attack would be internationally coordinated.

According to media reports, the Italian frigate Maestrale was heading to the scene of the hijacking.

Earlier, Somali pirates seeking to help comrades holding hostage the captain of another US-flagged ship turned back due to a US Navy presence, media reports said Saturday.

Pirates have been holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage on the lifeboat since Wednesday, following a failed attempt to hijack his ship, the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama, in the Indian Ocean near the coast of Somalia.

The USS Bainbridge, part of a coalition force based in the Gulf of Aden, arrived on the scene on Thursday morning and was joined on Friday by the USS Halyburton, Commander Peter Schneider, a spokesman for the US Defence Department, said.

The USS Boxer is expected to arrive later on Saturday.

A separate pirate group had reportedly been sailing the 20,000-ton Hansa Stavanger - a German-owned container ship hijacked one week ago - to help the embattled group of pirates.

However, a local journalist told CNN that the reinforcing pirates had failed in their mission and had anchored off the coast of Somalia.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said it was working hard to obtain the release of the German vessel, whose crew of 24 includes four Germans, among them the captain.

Media reports said the government dropped ideas to launch a commando raid to retake the Hansa Stavanger after the pirates sailed it to their base in Harardere, Somalia, quicker than anticipated.

Other pirate-captured vessels had also been reported as hurrying to the scene, carrying guns and hostages taken from previous seizures. It is not clear if this is still the case.

Nonetheless, a pirate spokesman said that the four men holding Phillips hostage planned to move him to another ship at some point.

The pirates are reportedly seeking ransom and safe passage for the release of Phillips, who unsuccessfully tried to flee on Thursday, leaping from the lifeboat in a daring attempt to swim to the Bainbridge.

US Defence Department officials said that Phillips has been tied up to prevent further escape attempts.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is helping in the negotiations.

Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers' Association, said that Somali elders were planning to travel out to the lifeboat in an attempt to persuade the pirates to release Phillips.

The pirates are in a weak bargaining position with no fuel for the lifeboat and only one hostage. The lifeboat has about 10 days' supplies of food and water, media reports said.

The Alabama, a cargo vessel carrying food aid, was boarded by the pirates Wednesday morning, the first time US sailors have been seized in the treacherous waters near the Horn of Africa.

The unarmed crew quickly retook the ship, but Phillips ended up being held on the Alabama's lifeboat.

The Alabama has since steamed away from the area and is due to arrive at its original destination, the Kenyan port of Mombasa, on Saturday.

Somali pirates have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks after a brief lull. The Alabama was the sixth ship to have been seized since last Saturday.

While US Navy forces are generally reluctant to storm ships to free crew members being held hostage, France has shown no such hesitation.

French naval forces on Friday stormed a yacht that was taken last weekend - killing two pirates and one hostage in the process.

Four other hostages were freed successfully and three pirates taken into custody, Defence Minister Herve Morin told journalists in Paris late Friday.

An investigation into the operation is underway, and Morin said Saturday it could not be ruled out that the bullet that killed Florent Lemacon, the captain of the yacht, was fired by the attacking French forces.

In 2008, pirates seized dozens of vessels in and around the Gulf of Aden and collected tens of millions of dollars in ransom, prompting the international community to send warships to the region.

Around 15 warships from the European Union, a coalition task force and individual countries such as Russia, the United States, India and China patrol an area of about 2.85 million square kilometres.

However, the pirates are now venturing farther into the Indian Ocean off the south-east coast of Somalia to avoid the international patrols.

Observers have said they feel piracy can only be stopped by dealing with insecurity on the ground in Somalia. A bloody insurgency is ongoing in south and central Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991.

A spokesman for al-Shabaab, the main insurgent group in Somalia, said Saturday that pirates were justified in attacking ships that entered Somali waters.