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Africa Horn
Danish Warship Rescues Somali Pirates Lost at Sea
2008-12-05
Ummmmmmmm...I think ya doing it wrong.
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A Danish warship, the Absalon, rescued seven alleged Somali pirates before sinking their vessel in the Gulf of Aden. The Absalon responded yesterday to a distress signal and found the men in the boat, which also contained weapons used in pirate attacks, the Royal Danish Navy said today on its Web site."Under international law, ships are obligated to help people who are distressed at sea," the navy said. "Because the people on board couldn't be directly connected with a criminal act, they were treated only as distressed."
Distressed...and well armed.
"Because of the weather in the area, it wasn't possible to tow the distressed vessel," the navy said. "For the safety of sea transport in the area, the vessel was therefore destroyed."
Coming up next: Somali pirates sue Danish navy for sinking their boat.
I'd be happy to apply that rule. Yes, the sun is out, the waves are only a foot high and the air temperature is 20C, but no matter, Mahmoud, we can't take your boat in tow [KABOOM!] ...
The alleged pirate vessel had been adrift in Yemen waters, and the crew has now been turned over to Yemeni authorities, the navy said.
They'll be wishing shortly that they were in a Turkish prison ...
The Absalon's crew confiscated the weapons found on board. The weapons included anti-tank rockets and machine guns, according to broadcaster TV2. The pirates had been adrift at sea for seven days, the last three days without food or water, TV2 said.
Fishing trip gone bad, I'll bet...
Posted by:tu3031

#5  If I remember the dots on the map correctly, a lot of the pirate attacks were close to Yemen. I wonder how welcome these fellows will be.
Posted by: James   2008-12-05 16:43  

#4  Pity they didn't encounter the Tabar....
Posted by: john frum   2008-12-05 13:55  

#3  ."Under international law, ships are obligated to help people who are distressed at sea,"

Obviously you never heard deferring action till you get an OK on proceeding by kicking it up the chain and getting clarification from the JAG. That could take hours, days, in some instances. We dealing with the EU here, something like that might even take months.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-12-05 12:52  

#2  Fishing trip gone bad, I'll bet...

Quoting James Bond after wrecking Q's "Fishing boat "What on earth is he fishing for"?

An aide replied, "I'll give you a hint, he lives in Inverness".

Bond (Grinning and Chuckling) "Nessie?"
Posted by: Rednek Jim   2008-12-05 12:43  

#1  Good to see western dhimmis paying for the Somali pirates' benevolence society. Probably had hot cocoa and a koran waiting for them.
Posted by: ed   2008-12-05 11:58  

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