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The mother of a Long Island student sailing aboard a freighter attacked by Somali pirates wielding rifles and rocket-propelled grenades Tuesday said the crew survived by following survival tactics they had practiced during their voyage.
"I have communicated with him and he is fine," said Mary Tosetto, of Plano, Texas. "I'm a mother, so of course I'm relieved to hear from him."
Her son John Tosetto, 22, is a third-year student at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. He is sailing with the Liberty Sun to fulfill a requirement that midshipmen spend at least 300 days at sea aboard merchant vessels.
The 738-foot Liberty Sun, which is owned by Liberty Maritime Corp., of Lake Success, was boarded by pirates some 280 miles southeast of the Somali capital of Mogadishu sometime after 11:30 a.m. New York time on Tuesday. The crew survived by locking themselves in the engine room, as pirates fired rifles and rocket-propelled grenades from the passageway outside.
The ship, carrying food aid for hungry Africans, was damaged "pretty badly" on its bridge, a U.S. official said. A Navy spokesman said the USS Bainbridge destroyer - skippered by Cmdr. Frank X. Castellano, of Bellport - was five hours away when it received a distress signal. Capt. Jack Hanzlik, of the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said the pirates fled before the Bainbridge - which on Sunday rescued American merchant Capt. Richard Phillips from three Somali pirates - reached the embattled freighter.
Mary Tosetto said her son sent her an e-mail from the Liberty Sun, saying the crew had followed anti-pirate procedures and had emerged without any casualties. It docked safely in Mombasa, Kenya, early Thursday.
"Everyone is safe, and everyone is fine and everyone performed as they had been taught to do," Mary Tosetto said.
The mother of Thomas Urbik, another sailor aboard the Liberty Sun, confirmed to Newsday an Associated Press recounting of an e-mail her son sent as the pirates attacked Tuesday EDT.
"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," said an e-mail received by Katy Urbik, of Wheaton, Ill. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out."
Katy Urbik received another e-mail about 90 minutes later, which read: "The navy has showed up in full force and we are now under military escort. . . . All is well."
Capt. Jon Helmick, a security expert at the academy who has supervised the development of maritime security standards for the United Nations, said the reported actions by the Liberty Sun crew were consistent with practices taught at the academy.
"That is actually a common protocol," Helmick said, "to get into an interior space with locks that can't be accessed from the outside to prevent hostage-taking."
This story was
supplemented with an Associated Press report.
John and the crew are okay, but the situation is not okay.
"I have communicated with him and he is fine," said Mary Tosetto, of Plano, Texas. "I'm a mother, so of course I'm relieved to hear from him."
Her son John Tosetto, 22, is a third-year student at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point. He is sailing with the Liberty Sun to fulfill a requirement that midshipmen spend at least 300 days at sea aboard merchant vessels.
The 738-foot Liberty Sun, which is owned by Liberty Maritime Corp., of Lake Success, was boarded by pirates some 280 miles southeast of the Somali capital of Mogadishu sometime after 11:30 a.m. New York time on Tuesday. The crew survived by locking themselves in the engine room, as pirates fired rifles and rocket-propelled grenades from the passageway outside.
The ship, carrying food aid for hungry Africans, was damaged "pretty badly" on its bridge, a U.S. official said. A Navy spokesman said the USS Bainbridge destroyer - skippered by Cmdr. Frank X. Castellano, of Bellport - was five hours away when it received a distress signal. Capt. Jack Hanzlik, of the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla., said the pirates fled before the Bainbridge - which on Sunday rescued American merchant Capt. Richard Phillips from three Somali pirates - reached the embattled freighter.
Mary Tosetto said her son sent her an e-mail from the Liberty Sun, saying the crew had followed anti-pirate procedures and had emerged without any casualties. It docked safely in Mombasa, Kenya, early Thursday.
"Everyone is safe, and everyone is fine and everyone performed as they had been taught to do," Mary Tosetto said.
The mother of Thomas Urbik, another sailor aboard the Liberty Sun, confirmed to Newsday an Associated Press recounting of an e-mail her son sent as the pirates attacked Tuesday EDT.
"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," said an e-mail received by Katy Urbik, of Wheaton, Ill. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out."
Katy Urbik received another e-mail about 90 minutes later, which read: "The navy has showed up in full force and we are now under military escort. . . . All is well."
Capt. Jon Helmick, a security expert at the academy who has supervised the development of maritime security standards for the United Nations, said the reported actions by the Liberty Sun crew were consistent with practices taught at the academy.
"That is actually a common protocol," Helmick said, "to get into an interior space with locks that can't be accessed from the outside to prevent hostage-taking."
This story was
supplemented with an Associated Press report.
John and the crew are okay, but the situation is not okay.
