"Somali pirates have abducted a Saudi tanker off the coast of Kenya".
I noticed that in the British press there was concern for the British members of the crew. Now I find that the story has developed and includes Polish citizens (as well as other nationalities)
I thought we had a thread on this, but I can't find it. Please, move my post if needs be.
Admin: can we have a 'Polish News' thread, please.
People underestimate these pirates, thinking its something that is read in books. In reality, the captain is armed to protect the ship, and even authorized to give some money to pirates to ensure the safety of the crew & contents. The pirates are becoming more skilled, and demanding enormous amounts.
The Arabian Sea & Gulf of Aden are particular targets, as most ships use the route to the Suez canal.
But you don't see the US sending their army to protect those waters from pirates, now do we ;)
Actually there are some American, other NATO and even Russian ships patroling that area but It's not easy to localize small fast boats, which "pirates" use and after they already kidnap a ship then they have hostages, so any direct action is risky.
50 caliber Us government issued surlpus would keep the pirates away.
Yes but I heard that there are some regulations, which forbid the civilian ships to be armed.
They should have shooting orders. As soon as a captain spots one, he should shoot the heck out of it. A couple of these sessions and the pirates wouldnt be approaching ships.
The patroling ships are very very few & far between. And they are so large that they can't go help any other ship in need. They are like a scarecrow in the field.
we have such high tech ability we give other countries that use it against our own soldies and we can not even do a little police work The whole thing is a joke.
I don't think they are terrorists. This country is going thro civil war now and they are asking world for help and are being ignored. Now they will try to get the worlds attention by taking over ships. The good thing is that they are not harming the ships crew. They just need help!
They had the same problem some years back with people hijacking airliners , it only stopped when anti terrorist people started storming the aircraft and killing people....
I don,t know what marritime law says about weapons on board these ships , but you would think that sailors have the right of self defence....A small boat could very easily be dealt with by a few good weapons in the hands of well trained people....A few dozen pirates going out , and not coming back would be a good deterrent....
These transport vessels will have to arm themselves and hire some kind of security personnel. Hijacking is no longer confined to the somali coast as this vessel was captured off the tanzanian coast. The eastern coast of africa is far too long for anyone to patrol. I'm sure i would be more economical to arm individual ships rather than have navy ships chasing down these buggers.
Perhaps all the nations that are having these ships hijacked could pay for some fast patrol boats with armed crews to escort ships in the danger areas , got to be cheaper than paying the huge ransomes demanded....Hunting these small boats with warships is not really working....they need some people keeping an eye on the ports where these pirates operate from , when they leave port they can be intercepted and sunk....
ALl such grand ideas. The problems lie in the lack of significant action by the ship owners and governments We have become a world of pick the battles and the hell with everything else. Maybe Poland can put a force togehter and get paid well to stop it. People have e become so afraid of making a stand.
I see on the news these muppet pirates ran into an indian warship...these pirates were not on a small boat but on a larger mother ship...The Indian ship ordered to pirates to stop , but the pirates responded by opening fire on the warship....great idea...the Indians sank em.....nice one guys...good result.....
