Captain 'tried to escape pirates'

US ship captain jumps off the lifeboat where he is being held by pirates but fails to escape his captors, according to reports.

The US ship captain being held hostage by pirates off Somalia jumped off the lifeboat where he was being held today but failed to escape his captors, US networks reported. Capt Richard Phillips jumped into the water during the night and tried to swim towards the nearby US destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, but pirates jumped in and recaptured him, three US television networks reported. US military officials told CNN that Capt Phillips was in good condition and that the pirates did not hurt him. The Bainbridge, accompanied by a P-3 Orion surveillance plane, was preventing the pirates from moving their hostage to a larger ship. Meanwhile Vice Admiral William Gortney, the commander of the US 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, told CNN that negotiations between officers on the Bainbridge backed by FBI experts and the pirates were continuing. "We have the USS Bainbridge on station currently negotiating with the pirates to get our American citizen back," he told CNN. Somali pirates have attacked numerous ships in the area in recent months, but this was the first attempted hijacking of a US-crewed vessel. The pirates are demanding a ransom to free Capt Phillips, a pirate commander Abdi Garad said by telephone today from Somalia's northern pirate base of Eyl, without specifying the amount. Mr Garad also said their men were negotiating with the US navy "not to be arrested if they release the captain". *AFP