Warship nears Somali pirates

A U.S. Navy destroyer reached waters off Somalia today to help free an American ship captain taken hostage by pirates in the first seizure of U.S. citizens by the increasingly bold sea gangs.

Gunmen briefly hijacked the 17,000-tonne Maersk Alabama freighter yesterday, but the 20 American crew retook control after a confrontation far out in the Indian Ocean where the pirates have captured another five vessels in a week.

The four gang members were holding the captain on the ship's lifeboat, and the crew were trying to negotiate his release.

"Our main concern remains the safe return of the captain and our latest communications with the ship indicate that he is unharmed," said B.J. Talley, spokesman for the Danish-owned freighter's operator, Maersk Line Ltd.

The U.S. Navy warship Bainbridge arrived on the scene before dawn on Thursday, the company added.

Quoting second mate Ken Quinn, CNN said the lifeboat, with the captain and four pirates aboard, was within sight of the Alabama. But a maritime official said that might have changed.

"We are now getting reports the Alabama is moving towards safe waters," Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters.

The attack was the latest in a sharp escalation in piracy in the waters off lawless Somalia, where heavily armed sea gangs hijacked dozens of vessels last year, took hundreds of sailors hostage and extracted millions of dollars in ransoms.

The long-running phenomenon has disrupted shipping in the strategic Gulf of Aden and busy Indian Ocean waterways, increased insurance costs, and made some firms send their cargos round South Africa instead of the Suez Canal.

The upsurge in attacks makes a mockery of an unprecedented international naval effort against the pirates, including ships from Europe, the United States, China, Japan and others.

"The solution to the problem, as ever, is the political situation in Somalia," said analyst Jim Wilson, of Lloyds Register-Fairplay, referring to the 18-year civil conflict.

"Until there is peace on land there will be piracy at sea."

PIRATES OFFERED FOOD

Pirates also attacked a Marshall Island-flagged bulk carrier today in the Gulf of Aden 125 nautical miles (230 km) from Bosasso in northern Somalia, NATO said on a piracy-monitoring website. It said they quit their attempt after about an hour.

Maersk said its crew regained control of the Alabama yesterday after the pirates left the huge ship with one hostage, the ship's captain. The rest of the crew were unhurt.

The ship was carrying thousands of tonnes of food aid destined for Somalia and Uganda from Djibouti to Mombasa, Kenya, when it was attacked about 300 miles (500 km) off Somalia.

"We are just trying to offer them whatever we can, food, but it is not working too good," Quinn told CNN of efforts to secure their captain's release. He said the four pirates sank their own boat after they boarded the Alabama.

Then the captain talked the gunmen into the ship's lifeboat with him. The crew overpowered one of the pirates and sought to swap him for the captain, Quinn told CNN.

"We kept him for 12 hours. We tied him up," Quinn said. They freed their captive, he added, but the exchange did not work.

Somali gunmen captured a British-owned ship on Monday after hijacking another three vessels over the weekend.

"We think the world must come together to end the scourge of piracy," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Washington, saying she was following the saga closely.

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said a thorough policy debate on Somali piracy was long overdue.

"I plan to hold hearings to further examine the growing threat of piracy and all the policy options that need to be on the table before the next fire drill becomes an international incident with big implications," Kerry said in a statement.