Kerry: Lawmakers must take action on piracy

WASHINGTON -- Massachusetts Senator John Kerry wants to hold hearings to address the growing problem of Somali pirates after a group of bandits attacked an American cargo ship off the horn of Africa yesterday and took the ship's captain -- a Bay State resident -- hostage.

A rigorous policy debate "is long overdue," said Kerry, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement issued yesterday. "When Americans, including at least one from Massachusetts, are endangered, you’ve got a complicated and dangerous international situation brewing, and that includes questions about a hot pursuit policy on Somalia’s coastline."

While there have been more than 50 pirate attacks in the area this year alone, no long-term strategy has been developed to stop them, Kerry said, "and the problem isn’t going away. I plan to hold hearings to further examine the growing threat of piracy and all the policy options that need to be on the table before the next fire drill becomes an international incident with big implications.”

The Maersk Alabama, a massive cargo ship flying an American flag, was seized yesterday when four armed Somali pirates boarded the ship near the Somalia coastline. The crew managed to repel the attackers, but not before they took the captain hostage.

Shane Murphy of Seekonk, the Alabama's chief officer and a Seekonk resident, was among the crew that helped repel the pirates. Murphy, a 2001 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, was second in command to Richard Phillips, 55, of Underhill, Vt., a 1979 academy graduate whom the pirates are holding hostage.

Over the past three years, Somali pirates have typically anchored hijacked vessels off the coast and negotiated ransoms between $1 million and $3 million. Last year, total ransom payments collected by Somali pirates are believed to have topped $50 million.

A US Navy destroyer is en route to the scene of the hijacking to assess the situation, officials said.