Saturday, January 3, 2009

Somali Pirates Steal Fertilizer, Leaves Oil Tanker


Two days ago on New Year's Day, the pirates in Somali who have been in the spotlight quite often recently, attacked two ships. One was a cargo ship containing 6000 tons of fertilizer and the other an oil tanker. They successfully hijacked the fertilizer-carrying cargo ship. As for the oil tanker, when two of the pirate's smaller sized speed boats, one carrying seven people, began their attack by firing at the tanker, the captain put the tanker on maximum speed and began to avoid pirates using evasive maneuvers, as crew members sent out an SOS message. 15 nautical miles away, a Malaysian frigate received the message and within minutes a light military helicopter arrived and the pirates ceased their attack. The crew of the oil tanker must've had a very happy and lucky start for the New Years, a worried start for those involved in the captured fertilizer ship, a series of headaches soon to come for negotiators to free the hostages, and an exceedingly frustrating start for the pirate boss who was probably planning for a celebration with all the oil he would've had.

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