WASHINGTON (AP) — Across the national security establishment, the United States urgently sought answers Wednesday for the first pirate attack against American citizens in recent memory — an American-flag ship hijacked off the coast of Somalia.
President Barack Obama's chief spokesman said the White House was assessing a course of action. Press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that officials there monitoring the incident closely. Said Gibbs: "Our top priority is the personal safety of the crew members on board."
The White House offered no other immediate details about what actions it was considering.
A senior Navy official said the administration was talking to the shipping company to learn "the who, what, why, where and when" of the incident in which the Maersk Alabama and a crew of some 20 people was seized by pirates.
This official refused to say what, if any, plans the U.S. had for trying to free the ship and its hostages. Officials said they didn't know whether a ransom demand had been made by the pirates.
"Now we're in the information gathering phase, really ... sharing information with the company," the Navy official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record while facts remained sketchy.
Reports coming into the Pentagon said carried varying estimates of the number of American crew members. Some said 21, others said 19. It was not immediately clear the nature of the ship's cargo is, although one report said that it might be food aid.
Though the ship is the sixth seized within a week in the dangerous region around Africa, Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said it was the first pirate attack "involving U.S. nationals and a U.S.-flagged vessel in recent memory."
A second Defense Department official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had no information on the number of pirates or any details of the attack.
But a third official, asked if there were any casualties during the hijacking, said United Kingdom maritime officials had been able to contact the vessel and were told "everyone is OK."
The crew first reported being under attack, then said that pirates had already boarded the ship, according to "talking points" prepared by the U.S. government for briefing reporters about the situation.
Though the company has had some Defense Department contracts it was not on a Pentagon job when attacked, the talking points said.
The hijacking comes one day after international maritime officials issued a warning on the area.
Following a series of attacks off the eastern coast of Somalia, the Combined Maritime Forces issued an advisory Wednesday highlighting several recent attacks that occurred hundreds of miles off the Somali coast and stating that merchant mariners should be increasingly vigilant when operating in those waters.
"While the majority of attacks during 2008 and early 2009 took place in the Gulf of Aden, these recent attacks off the eastern coast of Somalia are not unprecedented," the advisory provided by Navy officials in Washington said. "An attack on the large crude tanker Sirius Star in November 2008 occurred more than 450 nautical miles off the southeast coast of Somalia."
The advisory said the "scope and magnitude of problem cannot be understated."
The nearest ship from the international coalition working against pirates in the region was hundreds of miles away from the Maersk Alabama.
Associated Press reporters Matthew Lee and Ben Feller contributed to this story.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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