NYC Church Welcomes Return of Ship Crew Member

NEW YORK (AP)  -- Maersk Alabama crew member William Rios told worshippers at his Harlem church Sunday that their prayers had helped him survive piracy on the high seas.


Glenn Schuck Reports

``Your prayers gave us the strength for them not to take the ship to Somalia and keep us hostage,'' Rios told the Second St. John Baptist Church. ``The Lord gave us the strength.''

Rios, 41, was one of 19 crewmen aboard the Maersk Alabama when it was attacked April 8 by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa. The ship's captain, Richard Phillips, offered himself in exchange for his crew's release.

The ordeal ended when Navy SEALS rescued Phillips and shot three of the pirates dead.

Yellow ribbons and balloons adorned the modest Baptist church for Rios' homecoming.

The soft-spoken seaman described hiding from the pirates when they boarded the ship.

``We hid out in a room that's 130 degrees,'' he said. ``We were there for a lot of hours.''

As crew members later prepared to confront the pirates, Rios said, ``I told the chief mate, 'If anything happens to me, could you tell my wife and kids I love them?'''

Rios said he's worried that Somali pirates would target Americans now that three of their number have been killed by the U.S. Navy.

``But I'm glad to be back home,'' he said as the congregation shouted ``Hallelujah!''

The one surviving pirate, Abduhl Wal-i-Musi, will be brought to New York to face trial.

Rios said the pirate, a slightly built teenager, had told him, ``We're just hungry and poor.''

``That touched my heart,'' Rios said.

Rios sat through the nearly two-hour church service with his arm wrapped securely around the shoulders of his wife, Sherry.

``We thank the Lord for this homecoming because it could have gone another way,'' said the church's pastor, the Rev. Robert Jones Jr. ``We could have been preparing for a funeral.''