Somali Pirates catch the big fish - Saudi Supertanker !
“I’m stunned by the range of it, less so than I am the size,” Admiral Mullen said of the seizure of the Sirius Star on Sunday by armed men.
The huge, oil-laden prize, which is three times the size of a US aircraft carrier, was some 730 kilometres east of Kenya when it was boarded, he said.
That is the farthest out at sea that a ship has been seized in the latest surge of piracies, according to Mullen.
The pirates, he said, are “very good at what they do. They’re very well armed. Tactically, they are very good”.
“And so, once they get to a point where they can board, it becomes very difficult to get them off, because, clearly, now they hold hostages.
“The question then becomes, well, what do you do about the hostages? And that’s where the standoff is.