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| Africa Horn |
| Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship |
| 2008-09-29 |
| 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". 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. 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 You do the |
| Posted by:OldSpook |
| #32 declared cargo consists of "minerals" Um yellow cake .. probably not - if I'm not wrong in proper concentrations radiation can have the effects stated in 24 - 36 hours... the crew would not be affected if they did not open the containers.. the --- Arr matey __! Pirates did open the shipment an hence,... They would not have to ship bombs to use as a WMD but simply dirty rads to F### with our costal waters .. Fisheries., etc.. Since we know they have the reactors , and we know they do not like us we should assume they will try to bring us down .. . Homeland Security has talked about using medical radio waste for dirty bombs .. this would seem more likely .. but if our enemy can produce there own low level waste .. it may be easier for them to use that instead of bombs. This needs further disclosure. |
| Posted by: Linker 2008-09-29 23:14 |
| #31 If there were some really bad $hit on board, I wonder why the crew didn't also suffer similarly. The stuff was in shipping containers. Generally those things are near-airtight when closed. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-09-29 21:47 |
| #30 could have been deodorant. I doubt many somalis have had much contact with it |
| Posted by: sinse 2008-09-29 19:39 |
| #29 If there were some really bad $hit on board, I wonder why the crew didn't also suffer similarly. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-09-29 17:49 |
| #28 MKe too Mike, and I've got lotsa hair. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-09-29 16:36 |
| #27 Thank you for the info Old Patriot. Don't know diddly about the cyclo-sarins. VX, etc. I'm ok on. What degreaser will make your hair fall out (promptly)? Thought I had bathed in them all. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2008-09-29 14:52 |
| #26 Why aren't we paying the ransom to take control of this ship and its cargo? Deduct it from the CIA's budget. To get the type of intelligence gleaned from the cargo would be cheaper than a large number of CIA Ops. We should hire the pirates as our HumInt. Better return on investment |
| Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 2008-09-29 13:20 |
| #25 No chem agents cause prompt hair loss as far as I know. WM, some cyclo-sarins do, and some very toxic amounts of phosphenes. There are also a couple of really nasty degreasing compounds that can only be used wearing a full hazmat suit. Exposure symptoms are somewhat similar, but not a close enough match to say that's the cause. No telling what the Iranians are doing, and I wouldn't trust the Eritreans with anything. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-09-29 13:15 |
| #24 As someone else snarked, if it were a Chinese ship, we could assume the cargo was toothpaste and children's toys. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-09-29 13:14 |
| #23 If it is chemical weapons, Iran is going to find itself in a world of hurt. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2008-09-29 13:09 |
| #22 From the link But officials involved in negotiations over the ship are convinced that it was sailing for Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to SomaliaÂ’s Islamist rebels. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2008-09-29 12:48 |
| #21 Too good to be real. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2008-09-29 12:45 |
| #20 It stll could be nuclear. The timing is not off if the material has high neutron and gamma outout. Neutron flux will dissociate water, leaving a high OH- concentration (from HOH minus an H+, HOH = H2O). Full body cramps, bends-like symptoms, massive hemoglobin lycing, hurts like a bastard for days. I don't think a neutron flux causes prompt hair loss, but I don't know one way or another. Gamma might. No chem agents cause prompt hair loss as far as I know. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2008-09-29 12:33 |
| #19 The story mentions the pirates were down in the cargo hold. If the crew was avoiding it, then it's likely they weren't getting sick. Something in the hold could be leaking something highly toxic that requires pretty close proximity. I would agree though that whatever it is, is something chemically killing the pirates, as opposed to radiation. Will send the article to my dad and see what he says. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2008-09-29 12:29 |
| #18 Don't look at it! DON'T LOOK AT IT!!! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-09-29 12:08 |
| #17 Somalian piracy has been ongoing for a while. I wonder if Russia's newfound interest in freedom of navigation in this area is more about damage control IRT this death cargo. |
| Posted by: Minister of funny walks 2008-09-29 11:26 |
| #16 ok, here's my question. Did they open a barrel of the shit and taste it ? I fnot then how was there a crew alive without wearing haz mat suits runnings this ship if the agent acted this fast? |
| Posted by: sinse 2008-09-29 11:18 |
| #15 I agree that it is something chemically toxic. Something that radioactive would have to be really strong to do it. Unless it was some kind of chemical warfare agent, and those are often binary. One side of me snickers justice to the pirates, and the other side of me is very concerned with toxic sh*t like this being carried around by old rusty tubs. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-09-29 11:11 |
| #14 Imran Jones and the 30 Pirates of Green Slime |
| Posted by: Imran Jones 2008-09-29 10:48 |
| #13 Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark/Curse of the Black Pearl? |
| Posted by: Minister of funny walks 2008-09-29 10:42 |
| #12 Think Litvinenko. |
| Posted by: Woozle Unusosing8053 2008-09-29 10:41 |
| #11 No job security in piratingg. Could do better coming to US and getting a job on Wall Street or in the Govmint. Oh, too late there is not much profit there anymore--maybe pirating is the better alternative. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-09-29 10:40 |
| #10 I agree that it has to be some kind of chemical weaponry because to get that kind of immediate effects from radiation, the ship would have to glow in the dark. |
| Posted by: James Carville 2008-09-29 10:37 |
| #9 To start with, this almost has to be chemical, because while the right kind of radioactive material can do this, the timing is wrong. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean much of anything until a sample can be obtained, because there are likely several thousand chemicals, legitimate and illegitimate, that could do this. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-09-29 09:45 |
| #8 Somali pirates: doing jobs the US Navy won't do. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-09-29 09:40 |
| #7 This could be a Bush plot to hijack food for Darfur!!!! I recommend the Obamessiah, Paloosi, Frnaks and a large delegation from the majority party immediately fly to Somalia and inspect this shipment. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-09-29 08:46 |
| #6 We need more pirates checking out these sorts of shipments. Somebody in the CIA needs to send the Iranian shipping schedule to these guys. |
| Posted by: rammer 2008-09-29 08:25 |
| #5 I am sure there must be some old mines drifting around out there that this ship and the one with the Ukrainian tanks on it might accidentally run into. Maybe even some that might look kind of like a US torpedo (but aren't, of course.) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-09-29 07:45 |
| #4 The trouble is the pirates need to have "A Right To Know" law. Their employer needs to give them MSDS to avoid these accidents. I'm sure an Obama adminstration will do something about this problem. |
| Posted by: bruce 2008-09-29 07:31 |
| #3 Perhaps they'll(the pirates) dock and off load these mysterious mineral and industrial products in Mogadishu? |
| Posted by: Last Breath Farm Resident 2008-09-29 07:14 |
| #2 Am I stretching things a bit by imagining that the Iranians might preposition 'Toxic Trash' thru-out the Middle East, Europe and North America? A barrel full of some of this shit is enough to do some severe disruption of our Nations economy right now. Hoof and Mouth, Anthrax, and some stragically placed Toxins/Poisons. Just about anything large would tip this Nation's economy into the dumpster right now. Yes it would be a stop-gap measure for the Iranians, but it would give them some time until they developed their G'Damn NUKES with accurate delivery systems. Carthage Must Be Destroyed. The longer we wait the Nastier the consequences for Israel, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the GOD DAMN Europeans will be. ps: For the most part I recognize that Ima preaching to the choir.. I also don't think it's a stretch for Iran to have pre-position WMDs & have Al-Quds-Cells waiting for orders to GO! |
| Posted by: RD 2008-09-29 02:33 |
| #1 Whether it is radiation, chemicals or just bad juju, something is double plus ungood here. I'm sure you are just as surprised as I am, what with this being an Iranian ship and all. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-09-29 01:31 |