The ship's captain who escaped the clutches of Somali pirates made a triumphant return home to the US today, insisting he was no hero.
Richard Phillips said the US Navy, which pulled off the high-seas rescue that ended his five-day captivity, deserved the credit. "They're the superheroes," a relaxed-looking Mr Phillips (53) said upon his arrival at Burlington International Airport, Vermont.
"They're the titans. They're impossible men doing an impossible job, and they
did the impossible with me. ... They're at the point of the sword every day, doing an impossible job every day."
Mr Phillips, who had offered himself up as a hostage after pirates made an aborted attempt to seize the Maersk Alabama cargo ship on April 8th off the coast
of Somalia, survived the ordeal after navy snipers on the USS Bainbridge killed the three pirates holding him with simultaneous shots under the cover of night.
"I'm not a hero, the military is," he said, appearing healthy and invigorated at a brief airport news conference shortly after his arrival. "I am just a bit part in this story, the small part of a seaman doing the best he can like all the other seamen out there."
Not every sailor gets a ride in a chartered jet, a police escort home and a hero's welcome in his home town of Underhill, Vermont. Mr Phillips' wife Andrea and their adult children, Daniel and Mariah, boarded the sky-blue Maersk corporate jet after it landed, greeting him.
Mr Phillips, wearing a USS Bainbridge baseball cap, waved to a small, cheering crowd and hugged his daughter before disappearing into a building for a private reunion with his family. He emerged later to praise his fellow crew members.
When Mr Phillips was rescued, his arms were bound. Yesterday, bruises and scabs could be seen on the insides of his forearms. Asked what the high-seas hostage experience was like, he said: "Indescribable, indescribable."
AP