Somali pirates holding a US captain hostage have said they planned to move him to another ship and warned that using force to rescue him would result in "disaster". "There are not any developments still on the standoff with the American officials," pirate commander Abdi Garad told AFP by phone from the northern Somali pirate lair of Eyl. "We are planning to transfer the hostage on to one of the ships our friends are holding around Garacad area so that we can wait," he added without specifying which ship. Only four pirates have been guarding Capt Richard Phillips on the lifeboat, and transferring him to a larger ship could give them better defences as the US military seeks to free him. Mr Garad's comments came after French commandos on Friday stormed a yacht held by Somali pirates in an operation that left one French hostage and two gunmen dead. "I'm afraid this matter is likely to create disaster because it's taking too long and we are getting information that the Americans are planning rescue tricks like the French commandos did," Mr Garad said. Capt Phillips has been held on a lifeboat since Wednesday when four pirates hijacked the Danish-operated Maersk Alabama aid ship, which was carrying 5,000 tonnes of UN aid destined for African refugees. Yesterday, Capt Phillips jumped into the water and tried to swim towards the nearby US destroyer the USS Bainbridge, but the pirates jumped in and recaptured him.
An attempt was made by pirates to find the lifeboat and transport away the captain and their fellow hijackers. But the pirates on a German ship with 24 foreign hostages returned to the Somali coast after failing to locate the lifeboat. Pirates had hoped to use the hijacked 20,000-tonne container vessel, Hansa Stavanger, as a "shield" to reach fellow their pirates.
"We have come back to Haradheere coast. We could not locate the lifeboat," one pirate on the German ship, who identified himself as Suleiman, told Reuters. "We almost got lost because we could not find the bearing of the lifeboat." * AFP and Reuters
