Obama hosts Oval Office meeting with US captain once held hostage by Somali pirates

August 20th, 2009 Captain rescued from pirates visits Queen MaryLONG BEACH, California — "It was no Queen Mary," the captain of the American cargo ship who surrendered himself to Somali pirates said about his five days as a hostage in a small lifeboat. Four months later, Capt.

May 6th, 2009 Somali pirates seize German-owned shipNAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates have seized a German-owned ship with its 11 Romanian crew members in the Gulf of Aden, a U.S. Navy spokesman said Wednesday.

April 28th, 2009 Pirate hostage didn't realize he was being rescuedMONTPELIER, Vt. — The cargo ship captain held by Somali pirates didn't know at first that the gunshots that killed his three captors came from the U.S.

April 25th, 2009 Freed hostage to get homespun homecoming in Vt.JERICHO, Vt. — A week after returning home, the U.S.

April 25th, 2009 In first interview, pirate hostage recounts ordealMONTPELIER, Vt. — Former pirate hostage Richard Phillips says he thought he'd never get out of the lifeboat where Somali pirates held him after an aborted hijacking attempt.

April 18th, 2009 MOGADISHU - NATO forces Saturday freed 20 people taken hostage by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden last week, a media report said. A Dutch warship in a NATO anti-piracy mission freed 20 Yemeni hostages from a vessel that was captured by the pirates last week, the report quoted a NATO spokesperson as saying.

April 14th, 2009 NAIROBI - Somali pirates have seized three ships - a Greek tanker and two Egyptian fishing boats - just days after US and French forces killed five pirates in two separate operations to free hostages. The EU Maritime Centre said that MV Irene E.M.

April 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said the three Somali pirates who were killed by the Navy's Seals to end a hostage crisis were 'untrained' teenagers. Addressing an audience at the Marine Corps War College in Quantico, Virginia, Gates said Monday that the slain pirates, aged at between 17 and 19, were heavily armed but inexperienced.

April 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON/NAIROBI - A mortar was fired Monday at the plane of a US congressman as he was taking off from Somalia's capital, just one day after a US captain was rescued from the grip of pirates off the Somali coast. Donald Payne, who chairs a legislative subcommittee on Africa, was leaving Mogadishu after meeting with Somali officials and headed to Kenya.

April 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Somali pirates were reported to have obtained fuel for their hijacked lifeboat and were moving within 35 km of Somalia's shore late Saturday with the kidnapped US captain of a US-operated cargo ship, ABC news and CNN reported. Navy officials have said they would not allow the small lifeboat, in which captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama is being held hostage, to reach the shore, CNN reported.

April 10th, 2009 NAIROBI/WASHINGTON - Somali pirates recaptured the captain of a US-operated ship after he jumped into the Indian Ocean from the lifeboat he was being held hostage on, media reports said Friday. CNN, citing an unnamed US defence official, said that Richard Phillips leapt from the lifeboat in a daring attempt to swim to a US Navy destroyer, which is within visual range of the pirates.

April 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The captain of the US-operated cargo ship that was hijacked off the coast of Somalia Wednesday has been taken hostage, a crew member confirmed. Captain Joseph Murphy was being held by the pirates on the ship's lifeboat and was alive, second mate Ken Quinn told CNN.

April 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States is gearing up for a standoff with the band of Somali pirates who hijacked a US-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, as a Navy warship reportedly arrived at the scene early on Thursday. The crew of the Maersk Alabama were able to regain control of the vessel on Wednesday, but the pirates escaped with the captain as captive, FOX News reported.

April 6th, 2009 SANAA - Somali pirates hijacked a Yemeni tugboat in the Indian Ocean and held its seven-member crew hostage Sunday, the interior ministry of Yemen said. Armed pirates took over the al-Ghaith boat with seven Yemeni sailors on board and took it to an unknown destination, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

January 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Three Indians are being held hostage by Somali pirates on board a Kenyan fishing vessel in the Gulf of Aden since Jan 9, the Indian Navy said Friday while assuring that action would be taken to free them. The ship, M V Alpha Manyara, was taken over by the pirates near the Kenyan coast.