(16 Apr 2009)
1. Wide of USS Bainbridge carrying Captain Richard Phillips arriving in Kenyan port of Mombasa
2. Wide of USS Bainbridge crew
3. Various of ship
5. Mid of crew standing on deck
6. Close up of ship's name "Bainbridge"
7. Zoom out of radar on American destroyer USS Bainbridge
8. Mid of ship at sea
9. Mid of ship docked at port with crew pulling rope
10. Wide of ship approaching port
11. Mid of US flag
12. Wide of ship docked at port
13. Various of Liberty Sun, carrying food aid for Africa, being escorted into harbour by pilot boat
14. Crew members walking down ship exit ramp
15. Crew members overlooking side of ship
16. Crew member going up ramp UPSOUND (English) Reporter: "Was it hairy out there, sir?", UPSOUND (English) Crew member, name not known: "No. No worries."
13. Close up of crew member on ship
14. US Navy Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS) officers walking along port
15. NCIS officers pointing to ship
16. Close up of US flag flying from ship mast
17. Wide of back of ship
STORYLINE:
The American sea captain held hostage for five days by Somali pirates reached Kenya on Thursday aboard a US destroyer that docked to the strains of "Sweet Home Alabama" hours after his crew reunited with their families back home.
Captain Richard Phillips of the US-flagged Maersk Alabama cargo ship was brought into Mombasa harbour aboard the USS Bainbridge, which blared out the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit that includes the words "I'm coming home to you."
The destroyer hoisted the US flag as it arrived.
Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, gave himself up as a hostage to ensure the safety of his crew.
He was freed on Sunday by Navy SEAL sharpshooters who killed his three captors with three shots taken from the stern of the Bainbridge amid choppy seas and at night.
Phillips had planned to arrive a day earlier and reunite with his crew.
But the Bainbridge diverted to answer a distress call from another US cargo ship, the Liberty Sun, attacked by pirates.
Phillips' crew members flew home on Wednesday and were reunited with their families at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.
A charter plane was on standby to whisk Phillips home, said a security official at Mombasa airport who spoke on
condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
Tuesday's attack on the Liberty Sun, the second U.S.-flagged cargo ship targeted in a week, underscored the outlaws' ability to act with impunity despite international naval operations and mounting concern worldwide over how to halt the escalating piracy off the Horn of Africa.
A pirate whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun also claimed his group was targeting American ships and sailors.
"We will seek out the Americans, and if we capture them, we will slaughter them," said a 25-year-old pirate based
in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.
"We will target their ships because we know their flags."
Earlier on Thursday, the Liberty Sun arrived at Mombasa, its bridge damaged by rocket-propelled grenades and its windows shattered by gunfire, but its 20 American crew members unharmed.
The crew successfully blockaded themselves in the engine room, a tactic employed by the Alabama crew, and warded off the attack with evasive manoeuvres.
The ship, carrying food aid for hungry Africans, including Somalis, was damaged "pretty badly" on its bridge, a US official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the record about the ship.
Windows were blown out and the crew had to put out a small fire, the official said, but they were still able to
navigate.
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