US cargo captain returns to hero's welcome

Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 7:06 AM Posted by Beijing News


US cargo ship captain Richard Phillips returned Friday to a hero's welcome -- and a home-cooked meal -- after surviving capture by Somali pirates and a bloody rescue.

Phillips, 53, touched down in Burlington, Vermont, aboard a corporate jet operated by his shipping company Maersk.

The bearded merchant sailor, hailed for giving himself up as a hostage to pirates in exchange for the safety of his crew and ship, beamed as he embraced his family.

In his first public comments since his ordeal, he praised the military's elite SEAL commandos for his rescue and insisted he wasn't the real hero.

"I'm a seaman doing the best he can just like all of the other seamen out there," he said.

"The first people I want to thank are the SEALs. They're the super heros, they're the Titans they're the impossible men doing an impossible job, and they did the impossible with me."

Phillips was then whisked under police escort to his house in Underhill.

A Maersk representative, who asked not to be identified, said it was not clear when Phillips might go back to sea.

But his immediate future was clear: "A neighbor has brought over chicken pot pie for the evening meal," the official said. Brownies were also on the menu, along with his "favorite beer."

Phillips' return drew a line under the nightmare that began April 8 when Somali pirates swarmed the US-flagged Maersk Alabama, a merchant vessel delivering aid to Africa.

The 19 other crew arrived safely in Washington on Thursday.

They could have one final confrontation with their pirate foes, albeit in a courtroom, with reports that a surviving assailant may be sent to the United States to stand trial.

In that case, the US sailors would almost certainly be called as witnesses.

Meanwhile, the White House spokesman said that President Barack Obama hoped to meet "soon" with the seamen and members of the military.

For Phillips, the long route home to mostly rural Vermont started in Mombasa, Kenya, with refueling stopovers in Malta and Santiago, Spain.

In an emotional scene, his wife Andrea, children Daniel and Mariah, and mother Virginia rushed up the steps of the plane as soon as it came to a halt on the tarmac.

A moment later they reemerged with Phillips, who wore a cap with the insignia of USS Bainbridge, the warship that organized his dramatic rescue.

On Tuesday, Garad's group tried to execute this pledge, firing rockets at another US vessel, the Liberty Sun, which was also carrying food aid to Mombasa.



A man works on the rotor head of a windmill at the fair grounds in Hanover, Germany, where preparations are under way for the Hannover Messe fair for industrial technology. AFP/DDP/Nigel Treblin

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