Navy Snipers Killed Three Pirates To Save Captain Richard Phillips
Jan Hilado
Captain Richard Phillips,
Global News,
News,
President Obama,
Somalian Pirates,
US Navy Seals,
Vermont captain
This story was reported by Brian Ballou, Eric Moskowitz, and John Drake of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent John Guilfoil. It was written by Eric Moskowitz.
Navy kills 3 pirates to save US captain
President authorizes action by snipers on destroyer; Ship's crew, Vermont family, Mass. Maritime rejoice
Maersk-Alabama Captain Richard Phillips with Commander Frank Castellano after the Navy rescued Phillips yesterday. (US Navy photo via Associated Press.)
With the Vermont captain of a cargo ship intercepted off the Somali coast in "imminent danger" of death, Navy snipers killed three pirates holding him hostage on a lifeboat yesterday in an operation authorized by President Obama, according to a top Navy official.
A pirate was seen pointing an AK-47 assault rifle just after dark at Captain Richard Phillips when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge gave the order for sharpshooters on the destroyer to open fire at the lifeboat bobbing on the Indian Ocean, Vice Admiral William E. Gortney said at a press conference
As the news spread around the world, the captain's friends, family, and crew from the waters off Somalia to the base of Vermont's Mount Mansfield celebrated his rescue yesterday with cheers, tears, and the clarion blast of a ship's whistle.
Gortney, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, said the White House gave "very clear guidance and authority" for the military to take action if Phillips was in danger.
The 53-year-old captain was at the helm of the 508-foot Maersk-Alabama when pirates attacked the unarmed cargo ship laden with food aid bound for Kenya early last Wednesday more than 300 miles off the coast of Somalia. Phillips and his 20-member crew thwarted the siege but pirates took him as a hostage and were reportedly seeking $2 million in ransom.
Phillips endured nearly five days in the cramped lifeboat in a sweltering Somali heat before the Navy freed him yesterday about 7:20 p.m. local time, 12:20 p.m. in New England, where family and friends of the Winchester native anxiously awaited the news on a cold, sunny Easter Sunday.
Phillips's crew has called him a hero, and Obama - who spoke with Phillips and his wife yesterday - said the captain was "a model for all Americans."
But Phillips directed credit to the Navy.
"I'm just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home," Phillips said in a phone call to John Reinhart, president and CEO of Maersk Line Ltd., according to the Maersk executive.
In a choppy video released by the Navy, a lively, grinning Phillips thanked US officials after clambering aboard. He was transferred from the Bainbridge to the nearby USS Boxer, an 844-foot amphibious assault ship, for a medical exam. Gortney said Phillips was in good health and had suffered no apparent injuries, despite being "tied up inside the lifeboat" for much of the ordeal.
Arrangements were being made last night for Phillips's return home to Vermont.
Late last week, Phillips attempted to escape. He dove into the sea in an attempt to reach the Bainbridge but returned to the lifeboat after a pirate opened fire and watched on Saturday as pirates turned away a small Navy craft with gunfire.
Sometime over the weekend, when the pirates had begun to run out of food and water, supplies were sent to the lifeboat on a small boat from the USS Bainbridge. One pirate whose hand had been gashed when Phillips was taken hostage asked for medical treatment and was taken to the Bainbridge. A Justice Department official told CNN that federal prosecutors would be reviewing the case to determine whether that pirate would be prosecuted in the United States.
Yesterday when the pirates were running low on fuel, they accepted a tow from the Bainbridge. After night fell, the snipers aboard the Bainbridge saw two pirates partially emerging from the hatch of the lifeboat and through a window saw the third pirate aim at the back of Phillips, who was tied up.
It was then that the snipers, with night-vision scopes attached to their high-powered rifles, took aim and hit all three pirates.
With word of Phillips's rescue, members of his crew on the Maersk-Alabama whistled, cheered, and pumped their fists in the air. They unfurled an American flag from the ship's railing and fired a pair of red flares into the sky.
In Bourne, the Massachusetts Maritime Academy celebrated the release of Phillips, a 1979 graduate, by blasting the whistle on the USTS Kennedy, its training vessel, and sounding the bell above Blinn Hall on the edge of the Cape Cod Canal.
And in Underhill, the Vermont village where the captain lives with his wife, Andrea, several members of his family emerged from their house, smiles stretched across their faces, but made no comment. With their vigil over, they embraced in the blustery weather, separated from the media by a white picket fence tied with yellow ribbons.
Through a spokeswoman, Andrea Phillips thanked rescuers for their work and the nation for its thoughts and prayers.
"This is truly a very happy Easter for the Phillips family. Andrea and Richard have spoken; I think you can all imagine their joy and what a happy moment that was for them," said Alison McColl, speaking outside Phillips's house. "They're all just so happy and relieved. Andrea wanted me to tell the nation that all your prayers and good wishes have paid off because Captain Phillips is safe."
In Mombasa, Kenya, where the Maersk-Alabama has been docked since Saturday, the FBI has treated the ship as a crime scene and detained the crew to interview them about the first pirate attack in recent history on a vessel flying the US flag. A dozen crew members went to the deck to speak with reporters.
"We made it!" said ATM Reza, a crewman from West Hartford, Conn., who called his wife yesterday to say he may rethink his chosen career.
"He managed to be in a 120-degree oven for days," another crew member said of Phillips. "It's amazing."
Mass. Maritime president Richard Gurnon said he was relieved and happy for Phillips's family. "It doesn't get better than this. This is exactly the way we wanted this to end."
Gurnon said, "He was the good shepherd. He willingly exchanged his life for the lives of his flock his crew."
In a statement released at the Mass. Maritime press conference, Captain Joseph Murphy, the father of second-in-command Shane Murphy, hailed Phillips as a hero.
"I have made it clear throughout this terrible ordeal that my son and our family will forever be indebted to Captain Phillips for his bravery," said Murphy, who teaches at the academy and whose son is a graduate of the school. "If not for his incredible personal sacrifice, this kidnapping and act of terror could have turned out much worse."
A Mass. Maritime spokesman said last night that Shane is expected back by tomorrow and possibly today.
Reinhart, the president and CEO of Norfolk, Va.-based Maersk Line Ltd., issued a statement saying the company shared the jubilation of the Maersk-Alabama's crew and eagerly awaited the return of Phillips and all the crew members in the coming days.
"We are all absolutely thrilled to learn that Richard is safe and will be reunited with his family," Reinhart said, expressing gratitude "to the Navy, the FBI, and so many others for their tireless efforts to secure Richard's freedom."
Phillips's home sits less than a mile from Underhill Center, a small cluster of shops and brick-and-clapboard buildings at the heart of this former logging community of about 3,000.
Easter Sunday in Underhill began yesterday morning with uncertainty, as 200 somber residents made their way into St. Thomas Church for the service, with the fate of Phillips weighing on their hearts and minds.
After a children's choir sang "Christ Has Risen," the Rev. Rick Danielson delivered a brief sermon focusing on Jesus Christ rising, and on good triumphing over evil, speaking of "terrorists, pirates, and the wicked."
Danielson asked parishioners to say a prayer for Phillips and a prayer for his family. Afterward, they filed out in silence.
A few hours later, the town breathed a collective sigh and celebrated with the relief and joy spreading quietly on a day of snow flurries and subfreezing temperatures, in a town unused to media attention.
"It's definitely a miracle, and we're very blessed to have him coming home," said Rick Witham, co-owner of the Underhill Country Store, where a sign of support for Phillips was displayed outside. "To see him coming home safe to his wife and kids, and just being able to have a happy ending to this whole thing, is just amazing."
Stephen Walkerman, chairman of the Underhill Board of Selectmen, said town officials would await word on Phillips's return date before planning for a homecoming celebration.
"There's been a great outpouring of support for Captain Phillips's wife," he said, adding that "it's somewhat ironic that a small town in rural Vermont has suddenly been thrust into the national spotlight."
As the sun began to set yesterday evening, McColl emerged a second time from the Phillips home, about 16 miles east of Burlington, to give a statement. She said Andrea Phillips and her family were ecstatic but needed time to regroup after the long, draining experience.
McColl, who witnessed a joyous phone call between Phillips and his wife, said the captain's "trademark sense of humor" must have been on display from the other end of the line, given Andrea's laughter.
"If you guys could have seen her light up when she talked to him, it was truly remarkable," McColl said.
Earlier in the day, Phillips had received a note from his wife after he reached the safety of the Bainbridge, according to Gortney, the vice admiral.
"Your family is saving a chocolate Easter egg for you," she wrote. "Unless your son eats it first."
source: The Boston Globe
