This is a strange and scary story. It’d be a thriller of a Tom Clancy novel or a Hollywood movie, but it’s real. Take a deep breath, then check it out…
A tense standoff is underway in northeastern Somalia between pirates, Somali authorities, and Iran over a suspicious merchant vessel and its mysterious cargo. Hijacked late last month in the Gulf of Aden, the MV Iran Deyanat remains moored offshore in Somali waters and inaccessible for inspection.
The MV Iran Deyanat was brought to Eyl, a sleepy fishing village in northeastern Somalia, and was secured by a larger gang of pirates – 50 onboard and 50 onshore. Within days, pirates who had boarded the ship developed strange health complications, skin burns and loss of hair.
It gets freakier. Iran has offered to pay a ransom, but withdrew the offer because they couldn’t come get the ship since the US Navy is in the way (along with MANY other nations) patrolling the area in search of Al Queda, illegal arms shipments, WMD, stuff like that. THEN, reportedly, the U.S. offered to pay just to be allowed to check out the ship! Now, supposedly it’s carrying minerals and such, but the pirates admitted to trying to open some sealed containers in question, and couldn’t because “they didn’t have the access codes.”
QUESTION:
What kind of minerals etc are shipped to Islamic terrorists in Eritrea and has to be locked in containers that require access codes?
Mystery surrounds hijacked Iranian ship
Author of “Reparations and America’s 2nd Civil War
Reparations and America’s 2nd Civil War: Malensek, Scott: 9798864028674: Amazon.com: Books
I saw this story on another blog yesterday. Very strange indeed. Not a peep on any news outlets either.
[Within days, pirates who had boarded the ship developed strange health complications, skin burns and loss of hair. ]
Sounds like radiation sickness to me.
Very interesting.
Are you sure this isn’t the plot for 24????
Neo, questions:
Did the pirates have skin burns, get sick, and lose their hair on this ship too?
Was the iron ore on that ship stored in strange containers with digital access codes required to open?
Did anyone offer to pay the ransom for the ship?
Unbelievable…I still can’t get over this story.
Odd little story. I hope it’s not one of those stories that just drops out of sight after a while and that you will update it as events warrant.
I doubt it’s chemical weapons to Africa. I’m thinking it’s yellow cake (uranium) from Africa.
When did this ship leave Iran ? How did ship get pasted US Navy? Are there other ships?
Is Al Queda a new cheese dip for Tostitos? Where exactly is CJSOTF-HA in all this? Most yellowcake will not allow you to develop those symptoms unless you are using it for baby powder, so it could be secondary chemicals for any type of wacko weapon system. I am wondering why we are not boarding said vessel with frogmen from little creek with NEST in tow…
I’m unclear on something… was this (obviously toxic) cargo part of the regular crew shipment, and these poor unsuspecting pirates got ahold of more than they bargained for?
Or are these pirates trying to divert the toxic cargo for their own purposes, and knew about it?
It sounds like the former, but I’m having a hard time placing the players in their proper roles. Perhaps it’s just me, eh?
Whatever made the poor unsuspecting pirates sick and die was in the ship, it was headed TO Africa-not from it, and it was in containers that require “access codes”
How it got by the USN, whether or not the US has boarded it etc, I dunno.
I DO, however, think this would be the subject of a GREAT question at the debate on Friday night.
….well I can share that it is no “Yellow Cake”. Kudos to the astute student who mentioned the fact that it was being shipped in, not out!
Doc
Love it!
Gotta agree, this is one strange story and worthy of a 24 episode.
Now, if George Bush hadn’t stolen the 2000 election, invaded Iraq to make his daddy happy and payback his corporate imperialist buddies by invading Iraq, then these poor unsuspecting pirates never would have been poisoned by Iranian weapons of mass destruction on their way to Islamic holy warriors in Eritrea for use against Somalia warlords.
Anyone else need aspirin?
It might be the cargo hold doors that require access codes. Not sure how typical that is on ships so maybe someone will tell us.
If the pirates are getting sick (where’s Wordsmith and his talking pirate routine?) I wonder about the crew. Aren’t they being held hostage?
“Iran’s DEYANAT, a 44,468 dwt bulk carrier laden with 40,000 tons of iron ore en route from China to the Netherlands, was attacked by pirates last week”
Something smells really fishy here. China doesn’t export iron, it imports it. In fact, China imports close to 50% of all the world’s iron exports.
Maybe it’s hazardous waste instead of chem weapons. That was a pretty logical suggestion from one of the commenters at the long War Journal article. There are industrial wastes that would have this effect, and it would explain why no one wants the ship. Still, that is a BIG ship. Something’s not right here.