snoozy

TAIWANESE FISHING BOAT ATTACKED BY PIRATES. CAPTAIN BLUFFS:
I'll jump into sea if you kill my son

WITH one murdered crewman in the ship's freezer and Somali pirates threatening to kill his son, CaptainLing Xinshen could think of only one thing to do: Threaten to throw himself into the shark-infested sea.

Four pirates immediately rushed to stop him from jumping off the Taiwanese fishing vessel.

'It was a test. I wanted to see how much the pirates valued me. They know if the captain dies, they will get less ransom,' the 47-year-old said this week.

He is now safe in Kenya after the US Navy forced the pirates to release the boat, Ching Fong Hwa 168, and its surviving crew, which included CaptLing's 22-year-old son.

CaptLing's tale of seven months of being detained by Somali pirates on the ship is frighteningly common.

The ship's owners eventually paid up in October - the pirates had demanded US$1.5 million ($2.18m), but CaptLing refused to say how much was paid.

But the story has a twist. After even more ransom was demanded, the US Navy stepped in, forcing the pirates to release the ship and its surviving crew.

'(The pirates) threatened me, said if I didn't call Taiwan they would shoot my son,' Capt Ling said.

There has been a spate of pirate attacks off the coast of war-ravaged Somalia - 26 so far this year, up from eight during the same period last year.

Somalia is impoverished and flooded with weapons. It has long been without a central government with much authority on land, let alone the means to police its long coast.

Somali pirates are often trained fighters. They have heavy weapons and satellite navigation equipment.

CaptLing's encounter with the pirates began one April afternoon, when about 15 of them stormed aboard armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

CaptLing's crew was unarmed, and one member was shot in the back. He survived but when negotiations with the ship's Taiwanese owners were going badly, the pirates executed 32-year-old Chen Tao from China.

'He was unlucky because they just took him at random,' said CaptLing.

He remembers the young sailor being grabbed out of a line-up then, six shots rang out.

'We were in shock,' said the captain. 'Just for money, they took a life. They are not human.'

Four crew members were ordered to drag the bloody body into the ship's freezers, where CaptLing insisted it stay. The pirates wanted to feed it to the sharks.

BEATINGS

Over the next few months, the crew members battled scurvy when their vegetables ran out, endured mock executions and brutal beatings.

The pirates also forced crew members to call home, in the hope that the families would pressure the ship's owners to pay the ransom.

Capt Linglistened to his wife weep for her son and husband.

Everyone thought they were going home but the pirates held out for more money. That was when the US Navy got involved.

It said it spoke to the pirates by radio, pressing them to leave. The pirates complied on 5Nov.

US officials won't say exactly what they said to persuade the pirates to leave. But earlier, a naval vessel had fired on pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese-owned ship. -- AP.

Source : http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...48072,00.html?

shingshing

Clever captain