Shipping executive details pirate hijacking off Somalia

The ransom demand was "outrageous," but the targeted company could not ignore the pleas for help from the skipper of a ship captured by increasingly agitated pirates off Somalia.
The tension-filled nightmare, one of six hijackings of Japanese-affiliated ships in the year from autumn 2007 off the coast of Somalia, ended after the company paid the pirates.
"We weren't sure whether paying ransom would resolve the ordeal, but we decided that we couldn't put the crew's lives at risk," an executive of the shipping company targeted in the attack said. The Asahi Shimbun received details of the hijacking on condition that the company's name, the date of the incident, the ransom amount paid and other details not be revealed.
The shipping company first learned that something was wrong when it received a call from a naval rescue team of a Scandinavian country saying it had "intercepted an emergency signal from one of your ships." The ship, manned by a crew of several dozen Asians, was traveling through waters off Somalia en route from Southeast Asia to Europe. After company officials could not contact the ship by phone, they worked with a crisis management consultant and a lawyer to deal with the situation. The company later learned that about eight pirates in two small boats stormed the stern of the larger merchant vessel using ladders. Armed with guns, the pirates rounded up the crew. ..more..http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200906270071.html