Somali Pirates Get What's Coming To Them

The Somali pirates that hijacked the M/V Sirius Star received a 3 million dollar ransom last week, after holding the ship and its crew hostage for nearly two months. The ransom was delivered to the ship by parachute - a small plane flew over the mammoth vessel and airdropped it. The pirates, for their part, immediately began fighting among themselves over the booty.

That's when things got good. As the pirates jumped into a lifeboat to make their getaway, rough seas required all their attention to keep from capsizing. But three million in cash was enough to break their concentration, and soon the boat overturned. Yesterday, the bodies of several of the hijackers washed up on shore, this one had $153,000 in his pocket.

Oh, sweet justice.

Now if the shipping companies would get smart and start refusing to pay ransom in the first place.

A few weeks from now, I hope to be reporting from the Gulf of Aden as part of my upcoming three-week trip to Africa. While there, I'll also be taking a look at the dire situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and doing a short embed with US troops on the horn of Africa. Stay tuned, and keep an eye on my "other" blog, where I'll be posting real-time location updates via my personal SPOT locator.

Chuck Holton www.livefire.us.