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LISA MULLINS: I'm Lisa Mullins. This is The World. A dramatic hostage situation is still unfolding aboard a US-flagged cargo ship in the Indian Ocean. The ship was seized by Somali pirates earlier today. 20 American crew members were held hostage. And then came news that the crew had retaken control of the vessel. That's according to reports from the Pentagon. But there's still more to the story. Apparently, the pirates continue to hold one last crew member – the captain. Reporter David McGuffin is following this developing story from Nairobi, Kenya. He says the crew's reaction is unprecedented.

DAVID MCGUFFIN: The word is that they have retaken the ship. And this would be certainly a dramatic turn of events. Nothing like this has happened in the recent history at least of Somali piracy. So if the reports that we're hearing from the Pentagon are true that they have retaken the ship, it is an incredible turn of events. It's certainly good news for the families and the people involved with this ship.

MULLINS: David, why – you know, one would wonder when you're talking about in this case maybe four pirates going up against an enormous crew on a huge ship – I mean, 20 American crew members aboard this cargo ship. Why doesn't this happen more often?

MCGUFFIN: There's a good reason. I mean, basically most crews are from developing world nations and they would have very little training and poorly paid as well. So they would have very little incentive to try and fight back in a piracy situation. It is understood that these American crew members are trained merchant Marines. They would have training in dealing with piracy situations -- an incredibly skilled crew and a crew that's ready to deal with any situation. And this is vastly different from the crews that you will find on most merchant vessels that are cruising the ocean nowadays.
MULLINS: David, what do you know right now about where the ship was coming from and where it was going?

MCGUFFIN: It was very, very deep off into the Somali coast, into Indian Ocean waters -- much further than most of the attacks that we saw last year. I was just speaking to one of the spokespeople for the UN world food program, and we understand that onboard the ship is actually quite a bit of food aid that was coming to East Africa. We believe that there are about 243 containers of World Food Program food on that ship – emergency food aid.

MULLINS: Is there much, David, that separates this particular pirate attack from others recently?

MCGUFFIN: This year, we've actually -- things have been fairly quiet on the piracy front. This is due in no small part to the international naval task force that it's working in the Gulf of Aden. It's really – it's forced the pirates now apparently to move much further out. We seem to be seeing now a change in tactics by the pirates. They're now adapting to the reality of the situation with the Naval Task Force and moving further out to sea to take these ships.

MULLINS: Well, I know you yourself spent some time on a Canadian war ship that was patrolling off Somalia. What did you learn from that experience that might apply in this incident?

MCGUFFIN: Well, one thing I did learn was that in the entire five days that we were on that war ship there was not one pirate vessel that came anywhere within reach of us at all. I mean, they were all hundreds of miles away. They could see them on radar, but they were far, far away from us. Clearly, there is a deterrence factor -- but also quite clearly, the Somali pirates are willing to adapt. And with good reason, too – they took in an estimated $80 million in ransoms last year, which is a staggering sum of money anywhere. But in Somalia, which has completely collapsed economy, it is a failed state, this is a huge amount of money, and it's driving many people – many people who are just average fishermen into this business.

MULLINS: Is there anything from what you know about this particular attack that you find especially striking in terms of giving us grounding about how this actually transpired?

MCGUFFIN: Well, I think the most striking thing about this is something that the pirates probably didn't know themselves – and that they for the first time ever have taken an all American crew. You know, you're now getting a response from the White House about this, so clearly the pirates have unwittingly upped the stakes. Now, obviously they've taken some pretty high-profile things in the past, including a cargo ship full of weapons and a large oil tanker as well – and ransoms were paid in both those cases. But whether the White House -- whether the US government is going to sit by and let this continue to happen it will be interesting to see how this unfolds and if this does indeed change how the Naval Task Force, how other governments are dealing with the Somali pirate problem.

MULLINS: Thank you very much. David McGuffin, a reporter speaking to us from Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you.

MCGUFFIN: You're welcome.

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