NEW YORK – Somali pirates attacked and damaged an American ship carrying humanitarian aid Tuesday, but the ship and crew were safe under Navy escort, the military and shipping company said.
The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the Liberty Sun as it carried food for famine-wracked African nations, said the vessel’s owner, Liberty Maritime Corp. The ship was en route from Houston to Mombasa, Kenya, with a roughly 20-member crew, officials said.
Recommended Stories
After the ship reported being attacked around 11:30 a.m. EDT, the USS Bainbridge — the destroyer that assisted in the rescue of the hijacked Maersk Alabama last week — sailed to its aid, said Navy Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.
The Bainbridge arrived at 5:30 p.m. EDT to find that the pirates had left, and there were no injuries, Hanzlik said.
The ship was continuing on its way to Mombasa late Tuesday, he said.
The vessel had discharged thousands of tons of American food aid earlier this week in Port Sudan, in nearby Sudan, earlier this week, Lake Success, N.Y.-based Liberty Maritime said in a statement.
Crew member Thomas Urbik, 26, had been e-mailing regular updates on the voyage to his mother, Katy, in Wheaton, Ill.
She was nervous as he told her Sunday the vessel was heading into pirate-patrolled waters, but somewhat relieved to hear the crew was reporting its position to the Navy regularly.
Then, Tuesday, came another message: “The one that stopped my heart — that said ‘We’re under attack,'” she said in an interview.
But then there was a follow-up e-mail “that said he was safe and they had a Naval escort taking them in,” she said.
Urbik said she was “very relieved and grateful to God for protecting him and to our Navy, and that we come from a country that can respond like that and protect our citizens.”
Liberty Maritime also praised the government’s response, as well as that of it crew.
“We commend the entire crew for its professionalism and poise under fire,” the company said.
President Barack Obama vowed Monday to “halt the rise of piracy,” but defiant Somali pirates seized a total of four more ships with 60 hostages Tuesday.
The pirates have vowed vengeance for five colleagues slain by U.S. and French forces in two hostage rescues since Friday.
___
Associated Press writers Caryn Rousseau in Chicago and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
