White House 'closely' watching ship grab

The White House said yesterday it was "closely monitoring" the fate of a Danish-owned, US-flagged ship grabbed by pirates off Somalia's coast and worried about the safety of the crew.
"The White House is closely monitoring the apparent hijacking of the US-flagged ship in the Indian Ocean and assessing a course of action to resolve this situation," spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
"Our top priority is the personal safety of the crew members on board," said Gibbs.
The US Navy and the ship owner said earlier that Somali pirates captured the vessel, with 20 American crew on board, off Somalia's coast.
"A US-flagged Danish-owned ship was attacked at around 7:30 local time this morning, 240 nautical miles southeast of the Somali town of Eyl," Lieutenant Nathan Schaeffer, a spokesman for the navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet told AFP.
Maersk shipping line said the container vessel Maersk Alabama, belonging to the US subsidiary of Maersk, "was attacked by pirates and presumed hijacked" at around 0500 GMT.
"The US-flagged vessel has a crew of 20 US nationals and is owned and operated by Maersk Line, Limited in the US," a statement added.
The vessel was en route to the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was attacked some 500 kilometers (310 miles) off the Somali coast, Maersk said.