Thursday, October 16, 2008

Welcome home Mansoura crew, hope to say it soon to the Badr I crew

Yesterday the crew of Al Mansoura the Egyptian vessel that was hijacked in the Red Sea by the infamous Pirates of Somalia have returned back home .
You remember that it was announced that the Egyptian intelligence succeeded in freeing them through a very shady press release distributed on the media in Egypt.
Last night in the Beat Beatik , Mahmoud Saad hosted the Captain of the ship and his deputy , where they spoke about their terrible experience.
They spoke about how they were kidnapped and how they were rescued.
It turned out the Egyptian intelligence played the role of the negotiator with the Kidnappers ,they succeeded in reducing the required ransom from U.S $1,600,000 to U.S$ 600,000 ,which was paid by the owner of the ship.
Now the Captain said something that amazed me
According to the Marine laws no guns are allowed on the board of the ship even in the captain cabinet !! Can you imagine it ?? The vessel could not defend itself in front of the pirates except by the water hose !! Yes the water hose is the weapon they can use according to the international laws
With my all respect after 9/11 it became a rule in the airplanes got more security measures despite the ships and vessels are not less important than the airplanes, I mean ships transfer very dangerous stuff like tanks for example , you got the Ukrainian hijacked Vessel carrying 35 tanks and God knows what from weapons that turn East of Africa in to a hell of a war zone
What if some terrorists had kidnap that ship !!?
In the past Guns were allowed on the board of the commercial ships but now they are not , they should be allowed again as sort of protection to be in the custody of the captain
Hopefully the piracy in Somalia will open this topic more widely
Anyhow it seems that media forgot about the Badr I vessel , it is time to remind them with it.

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