Captain Richard Phillips Still Held Hostage By Somali Pirates

***UPDATE 4:36PM*** In an interview with CNN, a second mate of the ship confirms that the captain is still being held hostage by the pirates:

In a telephone interview with CNN, Ken Quinn, a second mate on the ship, said the hostage was the captain who was in a lifeboat with the armed pirates who sank their boat when they seized the ship. He said the captain was communicating with the crew on a radio and that a Navy destroyer was on its way.

Somali pirates are holding the Captain Richard Phillips hostage after the American crew of a hijacked ship retook the vessel. Captain Phillips is from Vermont and his wife, Andrea, related this information:

His wife describes Capt. Richard Phillips as "a pretty smart man" who'll "do what he needs to do to keep the crew safe." Andrea Phillips says her husband has been sailing in dangerous waters "for quite some time" and managed to stay "relatively safe." Though of today's incident, she says, "maybe it was inevitable."

MSNBC reports that the the pirates have retreated into a small lifeboat with the captain and the American crew is currently negotiating with the pirates for the captain's release.

Check back for updates.

Comments

[ThomasMc]

The US Navy only gets a 100 billion dollars a year, to protect some 200 US flagged ships in international waters, and apparently that is only enough to lobby Congress for more money!

[gcaptain]

We have a ship captain live blogging the incident. Link:
http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/maersk-alabama-live-blogging/