US captain freed by Navy snipers arrives in Kenya
Elizabeth A. Kennedy | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 15 years, 10 months AGO
MOMBASA, Kenya - The sea captain who clashed with Somali pirates and was freed by U.S. Navy snipers is arriving in port in Kenya aboard an American destroyer.
Capt. Richard Phillips originally planned to arrive a day earlier and reunite with the crew of the Maersk Alabama. But the USS Bainbridge that is transporting him diverted to answer a distress call from another U.S. cargo ship attacked by pirates.
The Liberty Sun arrived in Mombasa earlier Thursday with a bridge battered by grenades and windows blown out by gunfire but its 20 crew unharmed.
Phillips' crew flew home from Kenya and were reunited with their families Wednesday.
A security official at Kenya's Mombasa airport says a charter plane is on standby Thursday to whisk Phillips home to Vermont.
A service of the Associated Press(AP)
ARTICLES BY ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY
French raid pirate ship, US seeks to freeze assets
MOMBASA, Kenya - The U.S. and its allies battled Somalia's pirates on two fronts Wednesday, with French forces seizing a bandit mother ship and Washington seeking to keep the marauders from their spoils. Another U.S. freighter headed to port with armed sailors aboard after pirates damaged it with gunshots and grenades.
US captain freed by Navy snipers arrives in Kenya
MOMBASA, Kenya - The American sea captain held hostage for five days by Somali pirates reached port Thursday, with the U.S. destroyer that rescued him docking to the strains of "Sweet Home Alabama" hours after his crew reunited with their families back home.
French raid pirate ship, US seeks to freeze assets
MOMBASA, Kenya - The U.S. and its allies battled Somalia's pirates on two fronts Wednesday, with French forces seizing a bandit mother ship and Washington seeking to keep the marauders from their spoils. Another U.S. freighter headed to port with armed sailors aboard after pirates damaged it with gunshots and grenades.