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BELUGA NOMINATION Pirates Enter Safe Room via the Ceiling

BELUGA NOMINATION Pirates Enter Safe Room via the Ceiling

Fred
Total Views: 19
February 1, 2011

The BELUGA NOMINATION was recently taken by pirates. One open question was how the pirates managed to get into the ship’s Citadel safe room where the crew was hiding. As it turns out, the safe room was not so safe.

Somali pirates captured Beluga Nomination in the Indian Ocean on January 22. The crew hid in a citadel on board the ship for the first 48 hours, according to Beluga. But then pirates were able to open the ceiling of the safe room and took the crew hostage. – Lloyds List

This sounds like a scene right out of the movie Aliens where the Marines were trying to figure out how the aliens got through the barricades intended to keep them out of the living spaces only to realize too late that they were climbing through the ceiling.</p> <p style=This article also points out that the crew was safe from the pirates for a full 48 hours before the space was breached. So where were the naval forces during that time? An attempt was made to re-take the ship but it was not until after the pirates had gained access to the crew.

The article does not note where in the vessel the safe room was located, but if they managed to enter it from the ceiling, I suspect that it was inside the house. This clearly now was a poor decision. Also, if you watch the video of the South Korean raid on a captured cargo ship last month, you can see that the house was peppered with bullet holes. That is another reason not to place the safe room in the house.

So take the information above and treat it as lessons learned. How safe and secure is your Citadel space?

Cross-posted on my blog here.

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