Anways, it was fun while it lasted. Not really, but I wanted to at least attempt to be nice for the end of this blog. I guess that previous sentence just ruined it.

…Whoops.

Pirates are becoming more and more bold with their attacks. Most recently, they have attacked an oil tanker from flagged Hong Kong. There were groups of pirates in two skiffs that opened fire on the ship (which doesn’t seem too incredibly smart, especially if it’s oil tanker, get me?). However, the tanker simply “increased speed and make evasive manuevers” to avoid the pirates. No casualties were reported, which is slightly surprising. Somali pirates have been attacking ships more often, taking hostages when possible and demanding ridiculous amounts of money or captured pirates for ransom.

Somali pirates have threatened to kill three members of the Spanish crew they captured over a month ago if Spain refuses to comply to their demand to release two alleged pirates. They had been given a deadline of two days. If there is no sign of the release of the alleged pirates, then the three crew members will be killed and three more will be chosen. The wife of a crew member says that her husband had told her they need to pressure the Spanish government to take more action or they will be killed. However, the defense minister claims they know exactly where the hostages are being held, though they have not taken action yet.

Crew members of a Spanish fishing vessel were captured over a month ago by Somali pirates. The crew members called their relatives to beg them to contact Spanish government officials to work harder towards their release. The Spanish defense minister claims that the pirates were only using the relatives anguish to gain the upper hand in negotiations. The pirates have told the Spanish government that they will take three crew members to the shore until the government releases two alleged pirates they had captured earlier in the year. The relatives are panicking, saying the crew has no food and little water left, incredibly concerned that the government is not doing enough to save their countrymen. One of the relatives criticized the government, saying they should have given the boats military protection like they do in France.

The British couple I had written about previously are still being held captive in Somalia. However, the couple have now been brought to shore to a small town called Baxdo, a town which is only accessible by a dusty and bumpy road. The pirates took the Chandlers to the shore for fear of being attacked by outside military forces whilst on the Singaporean ship off the coast of Somalia. Apparently, there were some disagreements between the pirates as to what to do with the couple. Some wanted to demand $7 million from Britain, whereas other wanted to exchange the couple for some of their captured colleagues.

A British couple was kidnapped by Somali pirates in late October. Somehow, a news station was able to get a hold of Mr. Chandler via a mobile phone. Mr. Chandler said to ITV News that he was sleeping at 2:30 in the morning (local time) on Friday, October 29 when men with guns boarded his and his wife’s sailing boat. The men forced him to steer to the Somali coast. The couple were being held in another hijacked ship’s captain’s quarters. A Royal Navy ship found the Chandlers sailing boat while patrolling international waters. The Somali prime minister said he would do all in his power to try and find the couple. Heaven knows how much help that will be, considering Somalia has no government.

EDIT// I also commented on Ellie’s post about charity:water. I found it interesting that this guy invited seven hundred people to his birthday party. Seriously? I don’t even know 700 people personally. Nevertheless, it is still very impressive that just a few people who wanted to do something great were able to start this very successful charity. Go Team Water!

Sorry for being such a professional procrastinator, Chris. I’m getting it done though, and that’s better than nothing, right? I hope I don’t get too many points taken off for being late.

This article was originally written on April 10, 2009. The Alabama, an American cargo ship, was the sixth ship that week to be hit by the Somali pirates. These pirates are not the pirates that one might see in the movies. These pirates are “well-organized gangs,” extorting many ships and countries out of millions of dollars. Originally starting out as vigilantes defending their depleting fish stock from outside countries, the pirates became greedy and starting taking ships hostage for large amount of ransom money. Former pirates told reporters that Somali pirates are marrying very beautiful women with weddings lasting days upon end. They even have enough money to send their wives and girlfriends to outside countries’ hospitals to give birth.

Chris, you should take a final grade at the end and if we have all of the required posts, then we get an A. Deal?