Pirates Die Strangely After Taking Iranian Ship

Looked at it a little more, the Dead Pirates are off another Hijacked ship, the Ukranian one with the Tanks is a separate incident. Just to clear it up. I didnt see anyone else mention that, if you did, sorry, I missed it.

I think this is a giant load of crap. Nigerian Yellowcake anyone? The U.S. offers $7mil to look inside the ship? You've got to be kidding me. These are supposed pirates we're talking about. If the U.S. really needed to see what was on that ship they wouldn't have to pay a dime or tell anyone about it. The only reason to do it like this is to whip-up enthusiasm among the populace for invading/bombing Iran. Which, based on some of the replies in this thread shouldn't be terribly difficult, just like last time.

reply to post by Keyhole


Hmmm, seems kinda sloppy on Iran's part to be true. The ship leaves from China due to dock in Rotterdam but doesn't unload it's nuclear cargo in Iran along the way? It doesn't make sense. Plus Iran would have armed that kinda ship with at least a couple companies of Revolutionary Guards or similar troops.

If the U.S. does get to peek at the ship, my opinion will change. I'll give you that the ailments stated seem consistent with radiation exposure, but I need proof.

Right now things seem a little too unbelievable for my taste. I don't trust Iran, but I would expect them to be much more sneakier about it.

The article about the US paying $7m is from an IRANIAN website. I'm sure they don't have an agenda, right?

Take a look at the websites you take information from closely. Deny Ignorance.

Smoking gun? Not likely? If this were a smoking gun, I would see it on Fox News by now. These articles are from the little guys. This is really happening? Did any of you even think that maybe Iran, like any other country, is up to no good? That's right, Americans are the only bad guys in the world ...

I'm not saying let's bomb Iran, but you have to think that they have their own form of behind the scenes actions. Everybody does.

You all are getting confused. There are two separate ships and incidents. One the Iranian freighter with nasty stuff on board and two a Ukrainian freighter that has Russian tanks on it bound for Kenya.

A U.S. ship is watching the Iranian freighter awaiting orders and a Russian frigate is steaming there now. My guess is that the Russian frigate is going to get the Iranian freighter because she left port before the Ukrainian ship got jacked.

The Iranian freighter had a very suspicious travel plan and the manifest is an outright lie. What I don't get is why the U.S. navy is waiting or even thinking about asking anyone for permission to board the ship. That don't make sense because the Navy has the power to do what ever it wants on the high seas to any vessel in regards to maritime safety inspections. I know the freighter is off the coast of Somalia but the Navy is not going to be worried about that.

The Russians seem like they are going to blow the crap out of some pirates and take the ship. I hope they video tape it for us.

I read that the pirates could NOT get the locked cargo holds open. And I read on another forum that the Iranians and the Saudi's have been known to booby-trap the cargo holds of vessels carrying sensitive items. So perhaps it was not actually the cargo that made these guys sick, but if the cargo was in fact weapons headed for the rebels in Darfur they booby trapped it.

I am not sure how likely that scenario is, but it is an interesting idea.

reply to post by Sonya610


Your hypothesis seems more reasonable to me. Otherwise, why wouldn't the original crew be sick as well?

According to the article:

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.

So the question is, what other ports did this ship visit between China and Eyl (off the coast of Somalia)?

Did the mystery cargo come from China? The plot thickens...

Very bad for the environment too. People are often wondering what is killing our aquatic life in the seas. The Navy always seems to get the blame, but what if the (middle easterners)are hauling toxic materials and dumping them in the deep ocean to escape detectment from sat.?

Oh my god.

Has anyone stopped to think that maybe... just maybe pirates aren't exactly the most hygienic people on earth?!


What happened to the original crew who were sailing that vessel allot longer than the pirates? Did they experience the same problems?

Nope.


So what does obvious common sense tell you?

Whatever the pirates are sick with, the pirates brought with them.


But then, the media will grab at anything to make Iran look like lunatics. Unfortunately it's working.

[edit on 28-9-2008 by johnsky]

Andrew Mwangura's reporting can hardly be called reliable. Granted he's part of the Seafarer's Assistance Program which to people seems like a good idea, but he systematically makes claims without proof to back it up. Nine times out of ten, his reporting is wrong.

I'm not going to bother finding press articles and posting snippets (mostly because I'm lazy), but he's reported on every piracy event in 2008. Usually it will be some flagrant statement about cargo being hazardous or pirates have killed a crew member or this or that ... once the ship is eventually released, his information or "intelligence" is usually squashed then and there. He cries wolf multiple times and people eat up what he says as gospel.

Trust me when I say this report isn't true ... it's already been dispelled (plus the report is actually a bit old my friend and hardly "breaking". It orignally surfaced on Garowe online and went on to Somali Radio then various news sources twist and turn the story). That ship is carrying nothing other than the iron ore like it says on the cargo manifest. I'm what you would call an expert in Somali piracy, but I won't disclose details

Also in respect to M/V FAINA ... these two ships have NOTHING in common. There is no conspiracy between China, Iran, Somalia, Kenya, whatever ... there's no proof I promise you. Yes, FAINA does have an tanks and whatnot onboard, but no chemical weapons I can assure you. I'm sure the cargo and crew manifest are online somewhere for you people to see. The situation is not as dire as press makes it out to be. Yeah the weapons are there, but could the pirates easily take the weapons ashore? Negative ... even if they beached the ship, it would still be impossible to bring everything ashore. If they DID get the items ashore, could they use it? Not really and not enough so to be proficient in using them

Here's something interesting for you guys to look at if you're interested:

www.life.ru...

The website contains a transcript in Russian of the conversation provided in the sound clip. The first paragraphs providing background information are translated as follows: After negotiations which lasted almost 2 days, the pirates who have seized the vessel FAINA off the coast of Somalia have lowered their ransom amount. Now they are asking for $5 million instead of $35 million, which they initially demanded. It was possible for LIFE.RU to contact one of the hostages of the Ukrainian vessel FAINA who was captured by Somali pirates. Victor Nikolski informed that the captain of the vessel had a heart attack (Vladimir Kolobkov). The dialogue in Russian from the clip is the caller explaining that he has been asked to speak only in English in order that "our friends" (presumably Americans?) understand.

Hopefully some of this has clarified some things. I do have an account here, but forgot my password and I can't access my hotmail from work...Sooooooooo I'm anonymous for the time being. If there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer to some extent

-Chris-

Originally posted by princeofpeace
Very interesting. Suunds like radiation exposeure/sickness to me.




I agree. This does sound like radiation sickness. It happened very quickly! It was only a few days. Either they managed to open the containers or they aren't packaged very well.

So a ship carrying products from China is captured by pirates who check out the hold and get ill.

I wonder how much melamine went into That consignment of powdered milk?

(For anyone who doesn't know, milk in China from the most respected dairies has been watered down and had powdered melamine added to up the protein count and make it look milkier. Some of this has been exported as milk powder. This has caused kidney damage to hundreds of babies. It was the same product, melamine, added to pet food, that was found to be wrecking cats' kidneys recently.)

The USS Howard is confronting the Ukrainian vessel that is carrying Russian tanks..

news.bbc.co.uk...

It is really hard to find credible news sources on what is happening with the Iran Deyanat but it does appear that that ship was taken over a month ago on 21st August. I had that from several sources, this is just one:
Maritime News Russia

I've a feeling these two stories are getting a bit mixed up somehow.

Edit to add:

Just found this - the article is mainly about an Egyptian ship but there's stuff about the Iran Deyanat there too.

Pirates demand ransom for Egyptian ship

One of those ships, an Iranian chemical carrier called Iran Deyanat, fetched a $200,000 payment from its owners, but was not released as expected on Monday, a regional maritime group said.

"It was supposed to be released, but now they are saying the $200,000 was for facilitation only. They want more money for the ransom," said Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenyan-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme.

He said the pirates were angry because when they opened the cargo of the Iranian ship, several Somalis died, while others lost hair and suffered skin burns. "It must have been a very dangerous chemical," he said, without identifying the substance.

[edit on 28-9-2008 by skjalddis]

reply to post by harrytuttle


Good point, what if the ship was intercepted, then loaded with chemicals or whatever by a rouge element and was designed to be a false flag attack in Europe but now its been hyjacked by pirates and the plan has failed. That might explain the US offering money as they could remove evidence, chemicals/nukes can be traced to source.
If the false flag attack had worked then you can pick Iranians or Chinese to blame

reply to post by Keyhole


They are capturing ships because the French and Spanish appease anyone who captures their ships and pay the pirates off... it's a good business to be in, unless of course you capture a ship containing high levels of radioactivity..

Originally posted by Sky watcher
What I don't get is why the U.S. navy is waiting or even thinking about asking anyone for permission to board the ship. That don't make sense because the Navy has the power to do what ever it wants on the high seas to any vessel in regards to maritime safety inspections.

ROE's my friend, ROE's ... I just posted up a post anonymously which should pop up soon i hope (I signed it -Chris- I remebered my password haha). UN Security Council resolution 1816 allows US and Coalition vessels to enter territorial waters and take a more acitve approach to combatting piracy, HOWEVER we can't do whatever the hell we want on the high seas.

We have Rules of Engagement ... we can't just go around boarding whoever we feel like it ... there has to be a reason to and in my post that should be popping up soon, there isn't a reason.

Why the navy isn't doing anything with these vessels? there's 15 pirated ships right now and don't think we aren't doing anything, because we are, but have you though of "collateral damage"? We do something to one ship, and one guy calls another and everything gets all FUBAR on us. This is one network of pirates and they all talk to eachother so we go in and attempt to rescue someone, the other pirated vessels will know and that puts all of those other crew members at risk ... bad things happen

Yeah we're watching, but that's all that we CAN do right now.

Also the original reporting from Andrew Mwangura (the Geraldo Rivera of piracy) was from the 11th ... why the Times just now did an article is beyond me, but again, like you'll see in my anonymous post (i'll point it out), he tends to report bogus information.

AND that ship is NOT IRISL-owned despite what some sources state

If there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer to a certain extent

[edit on 28-9-2008 by friendforafoe]

Their are two seperate ships that have been in the news lately, it seems some people are thinking this is all about one ship and the story keeps changing, but it's not.

The first one that was in the news the most was a Ukraine ship that had a bunch of tanks on it.

The second ship, the Iran Deyana that this thread is about, is about an Iranian ship that is owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, a state-owned company run by the Iranian military.

Originally posted by arcnaver
Why are we hearing it from just fringe groups instead of mainstream?

Well, here's an article from Reuters.

Unidentified Warship Captures 14 Somali Pirates

Abdinur Farah told Reuters from the deck of a seized Iranian ship.

He said the Iranian ship with 28 crew members including two Russians, two Pakistanis and a Syrian would soon be freed once the $2 million ransom agreed upon was paid.

"The bargaining about the ransom is over and pirates are just waiting for the money," he said.

"Puntland requested the pirates two weeks ago to hand over this Iranian ship, saying that it is carrying weapons to Eritrea. I have seen food and other odd items on the ship but I do not know what is hidden underneath."

And here's another article that is pretty interesting!

Mystery Surrounds Hijacked Iranian Ship

Suspicion has also been cast on the ship's crew, half of which is almost entirely staffed by Iranians - a large percentage of Iranian nationals for a standard merchant vessel

I'm skipping the part where the crew members get sick and some die, we've heard about this already!

News about the illness and the toxic cargo quickly reached Garowe, seat of the government for the autonomous region of Puntland. Angered over the wave of piracy and suspicious about the Iranian ship, authorities dispatched a delegation led by Minister of Minerals and Oil Hassan Allore Osman to investigate the situation on September 4. Osman also confirmed to The Long War Journal that during the six days he negotiated with the pirates members of the syndicate had become sick and died. "That ship is unusual," he said. "It is not carrying a normal shipment."
******SKIP******
Once in direct contact, the pirates told Osman that they had attempted to inspect the ship's seven cargo containers after they developed health complications but the containers were locked. The crew claimed that they did not have the "access codes" and could not open them. The delegation secured contact with the captain and the engineer by cell phone and demanded to know the nature of the cargo, however, Osman says that "they were saying different things to different people." Initially they said that the cargo contained "crude oil" but then claimed it contained "minerals."

So it appears "officials" in the area have contacted the pirates and confirmed that people were sick and have died TRYING to open some "suspicious" containers that were locked and needed some kind of code to open!

And apparently they can't get their story straight on what their gargo is either!

It also looks like the Russian ship is heading out that way because of the Ukrainian vessel:

Somali Pirates' Unexpected Booty: Russian Tanks

It appears almost certain that the pirates had no idea of the cargo aboard the Belize-flagged Faina, which Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuri Yekhanurov told the Interfax news agency was being sold to Kenya. He said the cargo included grenade launchers and ammunition. Hours after the hijacking, Russia announced it was sending a warship from its Baltic Fleet to patrol the Somali coast.

So -so far, trying to stick to mainstream media cos I reckon this story has been subject to Chinese Whispers - it seems that the US and the Russians are confronting the hijackers of the Ukrainian ship, not the Iranian ship. There is a lot of questions over what the Iranian ship is carrying and it does appear that some of the pirates got sick from it - but I haven't found much to support the claim that the US and Russians are particularly concerned about it. Also, the Iranian ship got took back in August, that is certain.

Could be the two stories are getting mixed up because the Iranian ship is getting reported as an aside in stories about the Ukrainian one, among others. Still doesn't explain what made those guys sick though, except bad karma maybe.

[edit on 28-9-2008 by skjalddis]

[edit on 28-9-2008 by skjalddis]