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...hostages held by Somali pirates are Filipino, the Philippine government has been unable to influence ship owners to negotiate ransoms or take military action. The International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC) in the Philippines says 122 Filipino seafarers are currently being held captive, which includes the 23 onboard the MV Stolt Strength, a Japanese-owned chemical tanker that was hijacked on Nov. 10 last year. ISAC secretary-general Joseph Entero says the ship's owner is unwilling to pay ransom, the hostages' families are being given little information, and the government is not doing enough. "[The government calls] our overseas workers...
...Belize-flagged Ukrainian shipping vessel MV Faina will finally deliver its consignment of Russian tanks, grenade launchers and other small arms to the Kenyan port of Mombassa in the next few days, four months late. The ship's captain is dead. Its crew must be desperate to get ashore after weeks as captives of Somali pirates. And the ship's owners have just paid a record $3.2 million to free their vessel and crew...
...accidents are more common - and deadlier. Last year, nearly 1,500 people perished in nine major ferry accidents in the region. The death toll for airline crashes in Asia was 93 in four incidents. Last year's biggest ferry disaster occurred on June 21 in the Philippines, when the MV Princess of the Stars foundered and capsized, taking almost 800 lives. More people died in that accident than in the largest air-travel disaster in history - the 1977 runway collision between two 747s in Tenerife, Spain, which killed 583 people. (Read "How to Survive a Disaster...
There will be plenty of winners if Somali pirates keep their pledge to release the captive Ukrainian freighter MV Faina and its cargo of Russian battle tanks in exchange for a ransom of $3 million - but very little of the booty will go to the pirates themselves. "Our representatives told us that the ship's owners have agreed to a good amount of money," TIME was told this week by a man named Ahmed Gel-Qonaf, 29, who claimed to be among the pirates aboard the Faina, captured in September. "We said if there is money they are ready...
...Still, the capture of the Sirius Star - and the apparent decision to pay ransom to free the MV Faina - makes clear that the efforts of Western and other nation-states to deploy warships to protect commercial shipping from piracy have not been particularly effective against a handful of men equipped with a few rocket-propelled grenades, a fleet of rusty boats and a great deal of pluck. Restrictive rules of engagement and the hazy legality of arresting pirates whose home nation has no functioning legal system have left even the U.S. Navy unable to take the fight to the pirates...