The Associated Press reports that crew members of the U.S. ship hijacked by pirates in April blame the captain who has been praised as a hero.
"Bottom line, it was the captain's call," said Capt. Larry Aasheim, the vessel’s other master relieved by Capt. Richard Phillips days before the attack.
"I told him there are advisories out recommending that vessels stay off an increased distance. But he's been on that run for a couple of years. If he increased the distance to 600 miles, it adds 1 1/2 days of transit time and a lot of fuel. You've got to think about that," he said.
The AP has obtained information from the computer of the Maersk Alabama showing it had received at least seven maritime warnings of pirate activity in the days before the vessel was hijacked off the Somalia coast.
Ship’s navigator Ken Quinn said he had plotted pirate attacks on the vessel’s course line. Had the vessel changed course just 100 miles further out, “it would've taken us out of the localized area where all the pirates were. That's what they were trying to tell us, to stay away from there," Quinn said.
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