Maersk Alabama attacked again

Last April, the Maersk Alabama, a cargo ship, was en route to Mombassa, Kenya, with an emergency shipment of food when pirates tried to take over the craft.

The crew, including second mate Ken Quinn of Lakewood Ranch, thwarted the takeover by barricading themselves in a room and eventually overpowering the pirates.

Early this morning, Somali pirates again attacked the same cargo ship. This time, however, the crew was able to keep the pirates from boarding.

Quinn was not aboard the Maresk Alabama today.

But when he came home in April, he said he continued to be concerned about piracy around the Horn of Africa and worried that effective, coordinated strategy had not been developed to deal with the problem.

Clearly, piracy in the region remains a problem and the Spanish this week paid $3 million in ransom to rescue another crew and ship.

Jim