The Defense Department said that Captain Richard Phillips, the Alabama Maersk container ship captain who was taken hostage by pirates, had tried to escape by jumping into the water but his captors followed and retrieved him. It's believed Phillips was trying to swim to the U.S.S. Bainbridge, a naval destroyer that's been in contact with the pirates.
The escape attempt apparently happened to quickly for the Navy too help. Phillips is being held on a life boat by four Somali pirates, 300 miles off the coast of the Horn of Africa. The pirates, armed with AK-47 guns, had hijacked the ship, but the crew regained control; ABC News says the 53-year-old captain "stepped forward to be a hostage to avoid a bloody battle with the gun toting pirates." The FBI has been brought in to help with negotiations.
The NY Times reports, "American Naval reinforcements moved towards the scene of a pirate hostage standoff in the Indian Ocean on Friday amid reports that the Somali pirates, desperate to get back to shore with their American captive, had themselves called in additional ships and men." The Daily News looks at how piracy has benefited Somali business: "Big villas and hotels are sprouting, former subsistence fishermen are driving Mercedes-Benzes and gold-digging women are showing up. So are accountants."
