Pirates Attack the Maersk Alabama Again

On Tuesday pirates approached the Maersk Alabama, about 200 miles north of Madagascar, marking the third attack on the U.S. flagged container ship.

The ship’s owner said in a statement that four pirates approached the ship in a small skiff, with hook ladders. The ship avoided hijacking and kidnapping this time around, thanks to an onboard security team who fired warning shots to scare the pirate’s away and evasive maneuvers by the ships’ captain.

In April 2009 the Maersk Alabama was attacked in waters off the coast of Somalia. During the attack the ships captain was taken hostage on a lifeboat where four pirates held him until U.S. Navy snipers killed three. The fourth pirate, who was onboard the Maersk Alabama negotiating the captain’s release was arrested and just last month was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison.

The U.S. flagged Maersk Alabama has continued its trip to the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

____

PHOTO: Maersk Alabama off the coast of Mombasa, Kenya