But they're not in the Caribbean.
They are off the horn of Africa near Somalia.
It's hard to believe but in this day and age piracy has taken on a life of its own. The latest victim:
The 1,080-foot Sirius Star was seized by Somali pirates Sunday off East Africa. Its owner, Vela International, said the tanker is now believed to be anchored off the coast of Somalia.You can read more about it here from the Post and from CNN. You can also see an AP video about here. Both ABC and NBC network nightly news casts had stories on this.
More than 80 pirate attacks have been registered this year. Last month, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved resolutions calling on nations to send naval ships and military aircraft to Somalia's coastline and allowing foreign powers to enter Somali waters to fight piracy.
The reason for this increase in attacks is because Somalia has essentially fallen into anarchy. And pirates can operate with impunity.
Makes you think if somehow these pirates were actually organized say by a terrorist group what they could do to the supply of oil. But then again with the developed world in or about to be in a recession the impact might not be as great.
But still it is hard to accept the idea of pirates. I wonder if anyone's had to walk the plank.
1 comment:
Yesterday I saw a program about pirates in Indonesia so this problem isn't isolated to Somalia. Small communities that have no riches see them floating by and take what they can get. I think this is a much bigger problem that the news reporter want to say.
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