Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 28, 2024, 02:00:25 PM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Politics
  International General Discussion (Moderators: afleitch, Hash)
  Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship
« previous next »
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship  (Read 1436 times)
Bono
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 11,699
United Kingdom


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« on: September 29, 2008, 02:34:28 PM »

www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Article.aspx?id=851953

Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship
Andrew Donaldson    Published:Sep 28, 2008

A tense standoff has developed in waters off Somalia over an Iranian merchant ship laden with a mysterious cargo that was hijacked by pirates.

Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died.

Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the Sunday Times: “We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship.”

The vessel’s declared cargo consists of “minerals” and “industrial products”. But officials involved in negotiations over the ship are convinced that it was sailing for Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia’s Islamist rebels.

The drama over the Iran Deyanat comes as speculation grew this week about whether the South African Navy would send a vessel to join the growing multinational force in the region.

A naval spokesman, Lieutenant-Commander Greyling van den Berg, told the Sunday Times that the navy had not been ordered by the government to become involved in “the Somali pirate issue”.

About 22000 ships a year pass through the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden, where regional instability and “no-questions-asked” ransom payments have led to a dramatic rise in attacks on vessels by heavily armed Somali raiders in speedboats.

The Iran Deyanat was sailing in those waters on August 21, past the Horn of Africa and about 80 nautical miles southeast of Yemen, when it was boarded by about 40 pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. They were alleged members of a crime syndicate said to be based at Eyl, a small fishing village in northern Somalia.

The ship is owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, a state-owned company run by the Iranian military.

According to the US Treasury Department, the IRISL regularly falsifies shipping documents to hide the identity of end users, uses generic terms to describe shipments and operates under various covers to circumvent United Nations sanctions.

The ship set sail from Nanjing, China, at the end of July. According to its manifest, it was heading for Rotterdam where it would unload 42500 tons of iron ore and “industrial products” purchased by a German client.

At Eyl, the ship was secured by more pirates — about 50 on board, and another 50 on shore.

But within days those who had boarded the ship developed mysterious health trouble.

This was also confirmed by Hassan Allore Osman, minister of minerals and oil in Puntland, an autonomous region of Somalia.

He headed a delegation sent to Eyl when news of the toxic cargo and illnesses surfaced.

He told one news publication, The Long War Journal, that during the six days he had negotiated with the pirates, a number of them had become sick and died.

“That ship is unusual,” he was quoted as saying. “It is not carrying a normal shipment.”

The pirates did reveal that they had tried to inspect the ship’s cargo containers when some of them fell sick — but the containers were locked.

Osman’s delegation spoke to the ship’s captain and its engineer by cellphone, demanding to know more about the cargo.

Initially it was claimed the cargo contained “crude oil”; later it was said to be “minerals”.

And Mwangura has added: “Our sources say it contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals.”

But IRISL has denied that — and threatened legal action against Mwangura. The company has reportedly paid the pirates 200000 — the first of several “ransom instalments”, but that, too, has been denied.
Logged
Silent Hunter
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 9,306
United Kingdom


WWW Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #1 on: September 29, 2008, 03:07:52 PM »

Sounds more like radioactive materials to me...
Logged
J. J.
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 32,892
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2008, 03:54:04 PM »

Or something toxic.
Logged
Smid
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 6,151
Australia


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2008, 06:51:55 PM »

Sounds more like radioactive materials to me...

I don't know all that much about medicine, but I was always of the impression that radiation poisoning makes your hair fall out. It sounds like radiation poisoning to me...
Logged
True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
Moderators
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 42,157
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2008, 07:15:29 PM »

Could be nuclear, chemical, or biological.  Whatever it is, I expect Iranian ships won't be as attractive to Somali pirates in the future. Wink
Logged
Bacon King
Atlas Politician
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 18,822
United States


Political Matrix
E: -7.63, S: -9.49

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2008, 11:39:38 PM »

Looks like the Iranians are smuggling Chinese uranium to German businessmen?
Logged
dead0man
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 46,080
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2008, 12:44:38 AM »

Something fishy in Denmark.  Meanwhile other pirates (ARRRGGHHHH!) are stealing Ukranian tanks, designed by Soviets heading towards Kenya and are now being chased by S.Africans, Russians and Americans.  Lets hope this doesn't lead to a Mexican stand off.
Logged
Associate Justice PiT
PiT (The Physicist)
Atlas Politician
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 31,135
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2008, 12:50:47 AM »

Sounds more like radioactive materials to me...

I don't know all that much about medicine, but I was always of the impression that radiation poisoning makes your hair fall out. It sounds like radiation poisoning to me...

     Yep. Hair falling out is a textbook symptom of of radiation poisoning. Considering this is Iran we're talking about, I wouldn't be surprised if they had Uranium on board.
Logged
John Dibble
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 18,733
Japan


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2008, 07:18:15 AM »

I thought uranium when I heard the hair pulling and this involving Iran as well. However, it could be some chemical - I'm sure radiation isn't the only thing that makes you lose your hair.
Logged
opebo
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 47,010


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #9 on: September 30, 2008, 12:15:18 PM »

Why no reports of the crew getting sick?  Oh maybe they're all at the bottom of Davey Jone's Locker now.
Logged
Erc
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 5,823
Slovenia


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #10 on: September 30, 2008, 12:15:55 PM »

Simple uranium by itself isn't so radioactive that opening a container of it would give you radiation poisoning, I shouldn't think.  It's either some really nasty stuff or some chemicals.
Logged
Smid
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 6,151
Australia


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #11 on: September 30, 2008, 07:38:07 PM »

Why no reports of the crew getting sick?  Oh maybe they're all at the bottom of Davey Jone's Locker now.

It's possible that the storage was properly sealed, but that the pirates attempted to open it, broke the seal, and exposed themselves... to radiation, I mean. Exposed themselves to radiation.
Logged
True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
Ernest
Moderators
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 42,157
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #12 on: September 30, 2008, 07:53:40 PM »

Uranium has too long a half-life to be highly radioactive.  Now if they came across some nuclear waste that had elements with a higher level of radioactivity, I could see such severe radioactivity poisoning, but not from Uranium itself, noy in such a short time.  Radium causes problems, but it is far more radioactive.
Logged
JohnFKennedy
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 7,448


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2008, 05:40:38 AM »

Personally I think the Iranians just have a crate with Chuck Norris in it. They were probably transporting him to be taken care of by top men.
Logged
Pages: [1]  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.044 seconds with 12 queries.