'I'm just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home,' Cpt Phillips said by phone to Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart, the company head told reporters. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOMBASA (Kenya) - US Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American captain at gunpoint, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday.
The pirates were pointing AK-47s at Captain Richard Phillips and he was in 'imminent danger' of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said.
WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT Barack Obama authorised killing the Somali pirates holding US cargo ship captain Richard Phillips, and a commander acted upon concluding the pirates were about to kill the hostage, a US Navy official said on Sunday.
'They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain,' Vice Admiral William Gortney, head of the US Naval Central Command, said in a Pentagon briefing from Bahrain.
MOMBASA (Kenya) - THE lifeboat containing the tied-up hostage captain of the Maersk Alabama had been bobbing in the water for five days, stalked by a small flotilla of American warships.
There was no end in sight to the standoff between a small band of pirates and the US Navy. Talks between the two sides to negotiate the hostage's release were getting nowhere.
WASHINGTON - A TOP Navy officer says the rescued American sea captain was found to be in good health after being examined by Navy physicians.
Navy Vice Admiral Bill Gortney says Richard Phillips suffered no apparent injuries during his ordeal inside a cramped lifeboat where Somali pirates held him.
Cpt Phillips' crew, who said they had escaped the pirates after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired flares in celebration. A lawn sign in the captain's hometown of Underhill, Vermont that read 'Pray for Captain Phillips' release and safe return home' was changed to read, 'Capt. Phillips rescued and safe.' The US Navy's 5th Fleet said Phillips, 53, was resting comfortably after a medical exam on the San Diego-based USS Boxer in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. Adm Gortney said the captain had been 'tied up inside the lifeboat' over much of the ordeal.
'I'm just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home,' Cpt Phillips said by phone to Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart, the company head told reporters. A photo released by the Navy showed Cpt Phillips unharmed and shaking hands with the commanding officer of the USS Bainbridge.
US officials said a fourth pirate had surrendered and was in military custody. FBI spokesman John Miller said that would change as the situation became 'more of a criminal issue'. The rescue was a dramatic blow to the pirates who have preyed on international shipping and hold more than a dozen ships with about 230 sailors from a variety of nations. But it also risked provoking retaliatory attacks.
'This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it,' said Gortney, the commander of US Naval Forces Central Command.
Jamac Habeb, a 30-year-old self-proclaimed pirate, told The Associated Press from one of Somalia's piracy hubs, Eyl, that, 'our friends should have done more to kill the captain before they were killed. This will be a good lesson for us'. 'From now on, if we capture foreign ships and their respective countries try to attack us, we will kill them (the hostages),' he said. France and India have both taken deadly military action against pirates in recent months and seen no significant retaliation, however.
The Defense Department twice asked President Barack Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Phillips, most recently late on Friday evening, US officials said. On Saturday morning, Mr Obama signed off on the Pentagon's request, as he had a day earlier, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
'I share the country's admiration for the bravery of Captain Phillips and his selfless concern for his crew,' Mr Obama said in his first comments on the situation. 'His courage is a model for all Americans.' He added that the United States needs help from other countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable. -- AP
