Hmm. I note that none of the Google site images go very far out from the coast. Unless a ship were moored close in deep water we cannot see them. I want to locate this larger ship hostages are put on to.
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Hmm. I note that none of the Google site images go very far out from the coast. Unless a ship were moored close in deep water we cannot see them. I want to locate this larger ship hostages are put on to.
The images that are marked 2010 are not necessarily taken then. The image of my house shows 2010 (last time I looked) but the image is easily 4 years old or more.
Look here. Alula is a town used as small craft mooring of taken craft and hostages are also taken ashore here. Note the craft that is larger than the skiffs on the shore.
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Hmm. I took a cap of the odd area I found and saved it. I have no way to link it here, I don't think.
I see a bunch of skiffs on the picture.
http://www.transasianaxis.com/vb/pic...&pictureid=323
Ok added an album t my acct here. Sadly the quality is poor. I do have a better copy saved. Thoughts?
look out near center. That is larger. That area is known for yachts and such taken there., so larger than a sea skiff.
Handfull of skiffs on the shore, one is anchored out in the lagoon there. Best estimate for me is that the one anchored out is probably about 20-25 feet long the ones ashore are probably flat bottomed skiffs and are aroun 13 feet (kind of a standard length) - maybe closer to 10.
The left hand shows 100' as the range there.
Yeah using a ruler here, I say that anchored boat is about 12 meters or so. That would be around 40 feet. So that's a bit bigger boat.
The one taken the other day was a 50' if I remember right.
44 feet as I recall for the Dutch craft. This would not be it as the image is more than likely taken prior, but the point is, the greater area of Alula is active as a small craft pirate haven.
Another find. More likely skiffs, but they are in various stages of beaching and such.
http://www.transasianaxis.com/vb/pic...&pictureid=325
From what I see as a logical view, this Alula area, or east of it anyway, is indeed a small more shallow craft drop zone. It has many sand bars and shallow water areas to thwart those who are unfamiliar or in a larger craft pursuing.
Sadly, these images do not get close enough to see people. Amazing in a way. IN most of the world Google has mapped to the point of being intrusive to some, yet a hot bed like this is barely close enough to detect a small water craft zoomed in max. My own house is so detailed on there you can see my cars and RV and even a person if we had been outside at the time. Sheesh.
If you try to find my house on Google maps/earth, you'll see trees. heh.
Thanks Peterle, at work here I don't have access to a lot of things I have at home, including and especially google earth. It too, is blocked. I dont know why, but it is.
Phil those are boats that have been run ashore so they don't drift off. They could be fishing vessels.
Agreed, fishing vessels are a likely item there, but I stand by the point of it being a prime location for small craft logistic in a pirate arena.
Mal,
I dunno, but maybe being close to DC has something to do with it.
Asia & Pacific
Indian navy captures 61 pirates in Arabian Sea
Published March 14, 2011
| Associated Press
http://a57.foxnews.com/static/manage...diapirates.jpg
AP
March 13: In this photo released by the Government of India Press Information Bureau, Indian naval officers distribute food to the captured pirates aboard an Indian naval ship in the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Kochi, India.
NEW DELHI – The Indian navy captured 61 pirates who jumped into the Arabian Sea to flee a gunfight and fire on the hijacked ship from which they had staged several attacks, a navy statement said Monday.
Two Indian navy ships also rescued 13 crew members from the fishing boat Sunday night, nearly 695 miles (1,100 kilometers) off Kochi in southern India, the statement said.
The pirates had hijacked the Mozambique-flagged Vega 5 in December and had used it as a mother ship — a base from which they staged several attacks in the vast waters between East Africa and India.
A patrol aircraft spotted the mother ship Friday while responding to another vessel reporting a pirate attack, the Indian navy said. The pirates aborted the hijacking attempt and tried to escape in the mother ship.
When the Indian ships closed in Sunday night, the pirates fired on them. The hijacked vessel caught fire when the Indian navy returned fire, the navy said.
The pirates as well as the crew members jumped into the sea from the burning vessel, but were taken out by Indian sailors, the statement said.
The pirates were carrying about 80 to 90 small arms or rifles and a few heavier weapons, likely rocket-propelled grenades, it said. The statement did not describe any casualties among the navy, the fishermen or the pirates in Sunday's clash.
The navy was checking whether the pirates were from Somalia or Yemen. They were being taken to Mumbai, India's financial capital, to be prosecuted for attacking the Indian ships.
Piracy has plagued the shipping industry off East Africa for years, but violence and ransom demands have escalated in recent months. Pirates held some 30 ships and more than 660 hostages as of February.
The owner of a Bangladeshi-flagged ship that was held for more than three months said that the vessel and 26 crew members were released Monday.
Mehrul Kabir declined to say whether any ransom was paid for the release of the M.V. Jahan Moni, which was seized off the Indian coast while transporting nickel ore from Indonesia to Greece, but the media in Bangladesh reported the pirates were paid $4.2 million.
"All the crew members on board are safe," Kabir told reporters in Dhaka.
The Indian navy's third anti-piracy operation this year followed the capture of 28 Somali pirates last month and another 15 in January. Both groups also are to be prosecuted in Mumbai.
Indian warships have been escorting merchant ships as part of international anti-piracy surveillance in the area since 2008.
Several nations, including the United States, are prosecuting pirate suspects their militaries captured but other suspects have been released as countries weigh legal issues and other factors.
The prosecutions, the growth of criminal gangs participating in piracy and the ever-increasing ransoms have heightened confrontations.
Five Puntland security forces and two pirates were killed earlier this month during a failed attempt to rescue Danish captives taken from their hijacked yacht to a pirate stronghold in the semiautonomous northern region of Somalia.
Weeks earlier, four Americans on a hijacked yacht were killed by pirates under circumstances that are still unclear. A U.S. Navy destroyer was shadowing the captured boat at the time, and 15 pirate suspects were taken into custody after the gunfire.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03...#ixzz1GZx0vH7K
Russia jails six pirates in M/V Arctic Sea hijacking case
Russia’s regional court has sentenced six people, who were convicted or hijacking a cargo ship in the Arctic ocean, up to 12 years in prison.
Source: (AHN) Reporter: AHN Staff Location: Moscow, Russian Federation Published: March 25, 2011 08:01 am EDT Topics: Crime, Law And Justice, Punishment
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/images/cp.gif After leaving Finland in July 2009, the vessel mysteriously disappeared in the English Channel, sparking a global search.
Eventually, the Maltese-flagged ship, which was destined to Algeria, was eventually discovered in the Cape Verde islands.
The vessel was carrying timber but its sudden disappearance sparked speculations about smuggling illegal Russian arms and other missiles to Iran or Syria.
Among the six men is one Russian national, one Latvian and one Estonian, while nationalities and identities of three others remained unknown.
Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/brief...#ixzz1HcJm4Vww
21 April 2011 Last updated at 05:51 ET
Warship deployed to Arabian Sea as ships 'hijacked'
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...11806248-1.jpg Between them the vessels are believed to be carrying 41 crew members
Continue reading the main story PIRACY CRISIS
Two cargo ships are suspected to have been hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea, officials say.
A South Korean warship is racing towards the scene where the 75,000-tonne Hanjin Tianjin lost contact after emitting a distress call.
An Italian vessel, the Rosalia D'Amato, is confirmed to have been seized about 650km (400 miles) off Oman's coast.
Piracy in the region is flourishing despite efforts by patrolling multinational forces.
It hit an all-time high in the first three months of 2011 with 142 attacks across the world, the International Maritime Bureau said in a report this month.
Contact lost
The Hanjin Tianjin sent an emergency message at 0500 Thursday Korean time (2015 Wednesday GMT), when it was about 400km (250 miles) east of the Yemeni island of Socotra, said Seoul-based Hanjin Shipping in a statement.
The vessel was carrying a crew of 14 South Koreans and six Indonesians and was reportedly en route to Singapore from Europe.
Government officials said they believed it had been hijacked.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...iasea_2104.gif
A South Korean destroyer, the Choi Young, which is part of international naval forces attempting to police shipping in the area, has been dispatched, officials said.
The Rosalia D'Amato - an Italian cargo ship of about the same size as the Hanjin Tianjin - is confirmed to have been seized.
Carlo Miccio of Perseveranza, the Naples-base company which operates the ship, told agencies he had spoken to the captain who had told him the crew of 21 - including six Italians - were "okay, relatively speaking".
"He was trying to give me more information but the pirates understood what he was doing and they cut the line," he told AFP news agency.
Mr Miccio said tracking equipment showed the ship - which was on its way from Brazil to Iran with a cargo of soybeans - was "almost stationary".
There had been no demand for ransom as yet, he said.
'Mother ship' attacked
International naval forces have been battling the pirates, many of whom are based in lawless Somalia.
Witnesses and pirates near the Somali town of Hobyo have told AFP of an attack on a suspected pirate "mother ship" just off the coast.
At least four people died and six were wounded in the attack, which took place at about 1900 local time (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, they said.
A pirate and rights group told the agency helicopters were used in the assault.
The pirate said the boat was being used to ferry supplies to a hijacked vessel in the vicinity.
PIRACY CRISIS
BACKGROUND
- http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/image...7_51381243.jpgMarine violence
Why are aggressive attacks by Somali pirates increasing?
- Losing battle
- Q&A: Prosecuting pirates
- Somali piracy: Global map
- Q&A: Somali piracy
- Spotlight on 'guns for hire'
- Postcard from pirate capital
- Inside story of Somali pirate attack
- Chasing the piracy money trail
VIDEO AND AUDIO
- How to counter a pirate attack Watch
Experts reveal how to ward off pirates
From other news sites
- France24 Pirates attack ships in Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean 43 mins ago
- CHINAdaily S. Korea troops storm ship after pirate attack 1 hr ago
- Philippine Daily Inquirer Somali pirates attack ships 1 hr ago
- Reuters UK Somali pirates hijack Italian bulk carrier 3 hrs ago
- Asian Age S. Korean ship attacked by pirates in Indian Ocean 7 hrs ago
- About these results