A West Hartford man is being hailed a hero by his crewmates after taking down a pirate on the Maersk Alabama, when it was hijacked off Somalia.
"They came from the stern of the ship and came on with hooks and ropes and were firing in the air when they got on board," said ATM Reza, a father of one from West Hartford, Connecticut, who said he was the first to see the pirates board the Maersk Alabama Wednesday.
"He saved our lives!" second mate Ken Quinn, of Bradenton, Florida, declared from the ship as it docked in the resort and port city of Mombasa. "He's a hero."
Reza said that he had led one of the pirates to the engine room, where he stabbed him in the hand with an ice pick and tied him up. Other sailors corroborated that story.
With a throng of reporters shouting questions from shore, the crew of the Maersk Alabama described an ordeal that began with Somali pirates hauling themselves onto the deck from a small boat bobbing on the surface of the Indian Ocean far below.
Nineteen American sailors who escaped a pirate hijacking off the Horn of Africa reached safe harbor Saturday, exhilarated by freedom but mourning the absence of the captain they hailed for sacrificing his freedom to save them.
As the pirates shot in the air, Capt. Richard Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crewmembers said. Phillips was still held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat Saturday by four pirates being closely watched by U.S. warships in an increasingly tense standoff. A Pentagon spokesman said negotiations were ongoing.
