PIRATES!!! hijack Danish freighter off Somalia Coast

Agence-Vleeptron Presse, the world's leading source for news about PIRATES!!!! apologizes that things have been a bit slow lately, except for the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. (Bring a book and a small flashlight.)

We sincerely wish the crew of the M/V Danika White a safe and swift resolution of the crisis.

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The Associated Press
Wednesday 6 June 2007

U.S. ship fires at
PIRATES!!!

MANAMA, Bahrain -- U.S. military officials said Wednesday that a Navy ship recently fired on pirates who overtook a Danish vessel off Somalia's coast.

The USS Carter Hill, part of a U.S. task force that helps maintain security off Somalia and nearby countries, engaged the pirates after they hijacked a Danish cargo ship, the Danica White, in international waters, said Lt. Denise Garcia, a public affairs officer at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain.

The U.S. ship fired several warning shots across the Danica White's bow and also destroyed three small boats the pirates had used in their assault and were towing behind the Danish vessel, according to Garcia, who said the incident occurred Saturday.

The U.S. ship called off its pursuit after the pirates navigated the Danica White into Somalia's territorial waters, where the U.S. does not have jurisdiction, Garcia said.

The Danica White's owner, Danish shipping company H. Folmer & Co., declined to comment on the ship's current fate.

Lars Thuesen, head of the Danish Foreign Ministry's consular department, told the Danish news agency Ritzau on Monday that it could take weeks before the crisis is resolved. He said they hadn't been able to contact the ship and were waiting for the pirates' demands.

The Danish Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.

Joergen Folmer, a spokesman for H. Folmer & Co., said Saturday the Danica White was on its way to the Kenyan port of Mombasa from Dubai when it was seized by pirates Saturday or late Friday. The crew members are all Danish.

Pirates, often trained and heavily armed fighters using speedboats equipped with satellite phones and Global Positioning System equipment, are notoriously active off Somalia's coast.

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