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| Africa Horn |
| Sailor Sues over Safety of Pirated Maersk Alabama |
| 2009-04-27 |
| HOUSTON - A member of the crew on the U.S.-flagged ship hijacked by African pirates sued the owner and another company Monday, accusing them of knowingly putting sailors in danger. Richard E. Hicks alleges in the suit that owner Maersk Line Limited and Waterman Steamship Corp., which provided the crew, ignored requests to improve safety measures for vessels sailing along the Somali coast. Hicks was chief cook on the Maersk Alabama. Pirates held the ship's captain hostage for five days until the U.S. Navy rescued him. Hicks' lawsuit seeks at least $75,000 in damages and improved safety. Officials for Norfolk, Va.-based Maersk Line and Mobile, Ala.-based Waterman said their companies don't comment on pending litigation. Hicks asked that the two companies improve safety for ships by providing armed security or allowing crew members to carry weapons, sending ships through safer routes, and placing such safety measures on ships as barbed wire that would prevent pirates from being able to board vessels. Armed sailors will not be allowed. Barbeldy wire would be dangerous to the crew and dockworkers. "We've had safety meetings every month for the last three years and made suggestions of what should be done and they have been ignored," Hicks said. "I'm just trying to make sure this is a lot better for other seamen." Ignored or deemed unworkable? Hicks also asked the two companies pay at least $75,000 in damages, saying he doesn't know if he will ever work on a ship again. "My family is not looking forward to me going back out to sea. But I'm not sure if I'm going back. I'm still nervous, leery. I might find something else to do, said Hicks, who has worked 32 years as a merchant seaman. "We think (the companies) should be more concerned about the personnel on their ships than the profits the companies make," said Terry Bryant, Hicks' attorney. (A Texas Personal Injury Lawyer) Both companies do business in Texas, which is why the suit was filed in Houston, he said. Pirates took over the Alabama on April 8 before Capt. Richard Phillips surrendered himself in exchange for the safety of his 19-member crew. The captain was taken on a lifeboat and held hostage for five days before U.S. Navy SEAL snipers on the destroyer USS Bainbridge killed three of his captors and freed him. Hicks said crew members have been trained on what to do if pirates or others threaten the ship. "We need more than training," said the 53-year-old who lives in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., and has two grown sons. "I never thought nothing like this would ever happen." Hicks said pirates had tried to board the ship two other times that week, but the Alabama had managed to outrun them. But on April 8, as Hicks was preparing food for the crew, the ship's alarm rang and the captain announced the ship was being boarded by pirates. Hicks and the other crew members went to their designated safety room, which was the engine room, and they waited there for more than 12 hours in 125 degree heat. "I didn't know if I was going to live or die," Hicks said. The crew managed to take a pirate hostage, wounding him with an ice pick, and attempted to use him to get back Phillips. But the bandits fled the ship with Phillips as their captive, holding him in the lifeboat until the SEAL sharpshooters rescued him. "He did a hell of a job saving us," Hicks said of Phillips. And you return the gratitude by filing a lawsuit ... But Bryant said the Maersk Line and Waterman share the blame for putting the crew at risk. "We want to bring more attention to the shipping industry and the dangers in pirate-infested waters," he said. This is a complex situation. I'm not qualified to comment on what the shipping companies can do but arming the crew is not one of them. I don't blame him for being reluctant to go to sea again but I don't think suing the company will accomplish anything. It will take a very big change away from "Waging Lawfare" against the actual Pirates to going after the Money Men. Where does the money go? Who is organizing this? It's not the locals. |
| Posted by:Deacon Blues |
| #3 "Hicks was chief cook on the Maersk Alabama". Talk about putting sailors in danger.... |
| Posted by: Glising Pelosi4893 2009-04-27 22:29 |
| #2 The shipping companies and the insurers have treated the threat as 'business as usual', ransom just a mark up on doing business. Their focus is on the bottom line, which is the opening tort lawyers take when employees are treated as expendable. Sick a dog on a dog. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-04-27 22:20 |
| #1 Why can't the shipping companies have an arms locker and armed security details? Nothing in US law prohibits that, and since both companies involved are American, they cannot claim legal impediment. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2009-04-27 21:43 |