Pirates Fire On U.S. Navy Craft
Pirates opened fired as a small U.S. Navy team approached the enclosed lifeboat on which an American was being held hostage in waters off the coast of Somalia, CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozer reports.
A Defense Department official told CBS News that the Navy team was in a rubber craft headed toward the lifeboat holding the kidnapped captain of the Maersk Alabama when Somali pirates fired at or in the general direction of the Navy boat.
The U.S. official would not confirm whether they traded fire.
He told Dozier that the Navy craft did not retreat, noting, "It's an ongoing operation. Things change on the ground. Last update we had was a while ago."
The official did confirm that from this operation they have proof that Captain Richard Phillips is still safe.
Two Navy warships are in the vicinity of the lifeboat, with a third on the way, and they are working to not let the pirates reach shore.
Capt. Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was seized Wednesday when he thwarted the takeover of the 17,000-ton U.S.-flagged ship, which was carrying food aid for hungry people in Somalia, Rwanda and Uganda. He told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin, crew members told stateside relatives.
Phillips surrendered himself to safeguard his men. The crew later overpowered some of the pirates but the Somalis fled with the captain to an enclosed lifeboat, the relatives said.
Meanwhile, Somali pirates have hijacked an American-owned, Italian-flagged tugboat with a 16-member crew in the Gulf of Aden.
Shona Lowe, a spokeswoman at NATO's Northwood maritime command center, confirmed that the tugboat was hijacked Saturday morning in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast when it was towing barges.
U.S. Warships Converge On Pirates
The Boxer is the flag ship of a multination anti-piracy task force that resembles a small aircraft carrier. It has a crew of more than 1,000, a mobile hospital, missile launchers and about two dozen helicopters and attack planes.
The pirates have threatened to kill their hostage if the U.S. attacks them, according to a Somali who has been in contact with the pirates.
The dangers of taking action were underlined by an attempt on Friday by the French Navy to rescue hostages being held by armed gunman aboard the yacht Tanit, seized off the coast of Somalia. Four hostages, including a small child, were freed and two pirates killed when French commandos moved in on the yacht, but the yacht's captain was also killed.
U.S. rules of engagement prevent the Americans using their vastly superior fighting power to engage the pirates if there is any danger to civilians.
The situation is new for the pirates. Normally, they seize a ship with many hostages and get it anchored near shore, where they can quickly escape to land, and then begin negotiations for multimillion-dollar ransoms. Left with only Phillips and a lifeboat that is out of fuel, they are in a vulnerable position.
According to CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips, reports out of Somalia this morning say that a group of clan elders may be trying to mediate in this standoff.
Negotiations had been taking place between the pirates and the captain of the Bainbridge, who was getting direction from FBI hostage negotiators, the officials said.
When asked by a journalist how it felt to arrive in port, a member of the 19 remaining crew who did not give his name said it was "terrifying and exciting at the same time."
Asked about his captain, he said: "He's a hero."
"He saved our lives," another crew member said.
FBI Launches Criminal Piracy Probe
FBI agents are investigating the Somali pirates who hijacked a U.S. ship and are holding its captain hostage, U.S. officials said Saturday, raising the possibility of federal charges against the men if they are captured.
Even as Navy warships were in a standoff with the pirates floating in a lifeboat in the Indian Ocean, FBI agents from New York were investigating how the hijacking unfolded, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Attorney General Eric Holder said this past week that the Justice Department had not seen a case of piracy against a U.S. ship in hundreds of years. But authorities have prepared for such an event as the threat of piracy along the African coast has risen.
"If there were ever a U.S. victim of one of these attacks or a U.S. shipping line that were a victim, our Justice Department has said that it would favorably consider prosecuting such apprehended pirates," Stephen Mull, the acting undersecretary of state for international security and arms control, told Congress last month.
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said Saturday, "At this time, were not going to comment about potential prosecution scenarios in the U.S. We all hope to resolve this situation as quickly and safely as possible."
Under U.S. law, crimes aboard U.S. ships or against U.S. citizens can be prosecuted in U.S. courts, even when they occur in international waters.
The FBI investigation is being run out of New York because the office there oversees cases involving U.S. citizens in Africa. Other field offices take the lead depending on where in the world the crime occurs.
The FBI has a legal attache at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya and has agents elsewhere in Africa to assist the investigation.
Whether charges ever get filed depends on how the standoff plays out. If the pirates are captured at sea, it will be much easier for U.S. authorities to prosecute.
The pirates have summoned reinforcements and are trying to make it back, with their hostage, to lawless Somalia. That would make it harder for authorities to stage a rescue attempt and would make the FBI's case murkier because the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Somalia.