Hijacked Ship Arrives in Kenyan Port

CBS/AP) Cheering and guarded by Navy sailors, the crew of the American container ship Maersk Alabama reached a Kenyan port Saturday evening without their captain, still held hostage by Somali pirates in a lifeboat hundreds of miles from shore. When asked by a journalist how it felt to arrive in the port at Mombasa, Kenya, 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. A couple of the sailors cheered when the ship pulled up to the dock. Capt. Richard Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was seized Wednesday when he thwarted the takeover of the 17,000-ton U.S.-flagged ship. 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. The Norfolk, Virginia-based owner of the ship, Maersk Line Ltd., said earlier on Saturday that for "security reasons" the media would not have access to the vessel and crew in Mombasa. In a statement, it said FBI officers at the port would debrief the sailors on board before they disembarked. Kenyan port authorities said the crew were healthy but upset that they had left their captain behind. "Still they are feeling sad for having left the captain behind, so I also understand their situation and I did not want to probe too deeply into what happened. They look healthy, they are fine. Healthwise they are OK," Kenya Ports Authority Captain Bernard Odembo said. ..more..http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/11/world/main4936629.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4936629