DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 17, 2008
Pirates Hijack Oil Tanker In Brazen Attack
Seizure Off The Kenyan Coast Is Furthest Out To Sea And On Biggest Vessel Yet
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Play CBS Video Video High Seas Piracy In 2008 alone over 70 ships have been hijacked off the coast of Africa and their newest hostage is a Saudi oil tanker and its crew. Mark Phillips reports.
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(CBS)
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The Sirius Star, commissioned in March and owned by the Saudi oil company Aramco, is 1,080 feet long - about the length of an aircraft carrier - making it one of the largest ships to sail the seas. (AP)
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It appeared to be the largest ship ever seized by pirates.
After the brazen hijacking, the pirates on Monday sailed the Sirius Star to a Somali port that has become a haven for bandits and the ships they have seized, a Navy spokesman said.
The hijacking was among the most brazen in a surge in attacks this year by ransom-hungry Somali pirates. Attacks off the Somali coast have increased more than 75 percent this year, and even the world's largest vessels are vulnerable.
The Sirius Star, commissioned in March and owned by the Saudi oil company Aramco, is 1,080 feet long - about the length of an aircraft carrier - making it one of the largest ships to sail the seas. It can carry about 2 million barrels of oil.
For the U.S. and foreign navies trying to protect shipping, this attack has opened up a whole new front in the pirate wars, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.
The latest incident took place about 500 miles off the coast of Kenya, well out in the Indian Ocean, rather than in the Pirate Alley of the Gulf of Aden, where most of the recent attacks have happened.
"That's an area that is four times the size of Texas," says Commander Jane Campbell of the U.S. Navy. "Greater in size than the entire Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea combined."
To protect themselves, ship captains like Colin Darch, who was hijacked earlier this year, are now being urged to arm their crews.
But as for getting in a gunfight with armed attackers in speedboats, Darch is not so sure, Phillips reports.
"They do have these rocket launchers," Darch says. "And I think a rocket launchers could punch a hole in a ship and well maybe sink it.
"They'd soon scramble up and get aboard, especially if they were shooting at anybody trying to cut the ropes or prevent it."
Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, said the pirates hijacked the ship on Saturday about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya - the farthest out to sea Somali pirates have struck.
By expanding their range, Somali pirates are "certainly a threat to many more vessels," Christensen said. He said the pirates on the Sirius Star were "nearing an anchorage point" at the Somali port town of Eylon Monday.
Somali pirates have seized at least six several ships off the Horn of Africa in the past week, but the hijacking of a supertanker marked a dramatic escalation.
The pirates are trained fighters, often dressed in military fatigues, using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets launchers and various types of grenades.
With most attacks ending with million-dollar payouts, piracy is considered the most lucrative work in Somalia. Pirates rarely hurt their hostages, instead holding out for a huge payday.
The strategy works well: A report last month by a London-based think tank said pirates have raked in up to $30 million in ransoms this year alone.
In Somalia, pirates are better-funded, better-organized and better-armed than one might imagine in a country that has been in tatters for nearly two decades.
They do occasionally get nabbed, however. Earlier this year, French commandos used night vision goggles and helicopters in operations that killed or captured several pirates, who are now standing trial in Paris. A stepped-up international presence of warships recently also appears to have deterred several attacks.
The Sirius Star was sailing under a Liberian flag. The 25-member crew includes citizens of Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. A British Foreign Office spokesman said there were at least two British nationals on board.
An operator with Aramco said there was no one available at the company to comment after business hours. Calls went unanswered at Vela International, the Dubai-based marine company that operated the ship for Aramco.
Classed as a Very Large Crude Carrier, the Sirius Star is 318,000 dead weight tons.
Raja Kiwan, a Dubai-based analyst with PFC Energy, said the hijacking raises "some serious questions" about what is needed to secure such ships on the open seas.
"It's not easy to take over a ship" as massive as oil tankers, which typically have armed guards on board, he said.
But pirates have gone after oil tankers before.
In October, a Spanish military patrol plane thwarted pirates trying to hijack an oil tanker by buzzing them three times and dropping smoke canisters.
On April 21, pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades at a Japanese oil tanker, leaving a hole that allowed several hundred gallons of fuel to leak out, raising fears for the environment.
In September, three pirates in a speed boat fired machine guns at an Iranian crude oil carrier, though the ship escaped after a 30-minute chase.
Warships from the more than a dozen nations as well as NATO forces have focused their anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, increasing their military presence in recent months.
But Saturday's hijacking occurred much farther south, highlighting weaknesses in the international response.
Graeme Gibbon Brooks, managing director of British company Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service Ltd, said the increased international presence trying to prevent attacks is simply not enough.
"The coalition has suppressed a number of attacks ... but there will never be enough warships," he said, describing an area that covers 2.5 million square miles.
He also speculated that the crew of the Sirius Star may have had a false sense of security because they were so far out to sea.
He said the coalition warships will have to be "one step ahead of the pirates. The difficulty here is that the ship was beyond the area where the coalition were currently acting."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 77 CommentsThose who come from all the way thousand milles to Somali waters inorder to theft our natural resource, keep in mind we will never allow that and will go thousand milles to hijack your cargo ships.
Those who commented here to destoroy the Somali ports with uranium jacketed cluster bombs, hahah.., you are simply idiots. This can never happen, if so, our uranium is AK 47, RPG, and Anti-air craft guns, these simple weapons will kick your *** *** out of Somali Waters.
A cool MARK 15 CLOSE-IN WEAPON SYSTEM. The older radar controlled ones are probably a bargain. When the bad guys get within about 1.5Km, they get to sleep with the virgins.
you forgot: 9/11, more than 3000 people killed in the U.S, 75% of the population wanted to go after the terrorist and look now, iraq is not good now, we have to bring our troops home and let the middleast enjoy the 13 billion generously given by the U.S. to rebuild what the middle east destroyed.where is this money?disapeared in the middle east big gvt official pockets rotten by corruption.
is someone can explain me if what is going on in Somalia is the effect of the redistribution of wealth announced by someone now famous?
Posted by ToldYouSo74
Naw, Today''s Pirates = Yesterdays U.S. trained, freedom fighter, and Allies.
Kenya - Somalia - Odinga - Pirates - Anti-oil drilling for the U.S.
What is the common denominator that keeps coming up?
******** with his able mate Bush.
Billions stolen from US taxpayers.
4199 Killed.
Heckuva job!
Mission Accomplished!
The biggest pirate pu$$ies ever, scared off by a plane overhead dropping smoke canisters? What a deterrent. I guess it works until the children (and I mean children, coming from Africa) go home.
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Sorry but this whole thing sounds a little far fetched to me. How does a little speed boat pull up along side a 1000+ foot supertanker and just "hop on board"? The freaken ship is bigger than an aircraft carrier. Someone is going to have to show me the logistics on this "story".
If your an example of your countries eduction you might consider going back to somolia and asking for a refund. oh ya... you dont have education in somolia..
The horn of Africa is the septic tank of the world, but if America does anything the world snivels.
American war ships should guard ships with American business and leave the others to their respective countries, if those countries even care.
Posted by Demdump at 02:51 PM : Nov 17, 2008
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How, exactly is this more the United States'' business than taking out Sodamned Insane in Iraq was?
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See all 77 Comments