Warships track U.S. hostage floating to Somalia

By Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Guled

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Military helicopters flew over Somali pirate lairs and battleships stalked a boat on Sunday in which gunmen were holding an American hostage in a five-day high seas standoff.

Armed with assault rifles and a grenade launcher, four pirates and their captive, 53-year-old U.S. ship captain Richard Phillips, were drifting towards land on a lifeboat out of fuel.

Three U.S. warships were watching the situation.

"The captain must be tied to the lifeboat because he tried to escape once," Aweys Ali Said, chairman of the pirate-infested central Somali region of Galkayo, told Reuters.

Pirate sources said U.S. helicopters were dropping supplies for the boat. Phillips is the first American taken captive by Somali pirate gangs who have marauded in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes for years.

"The Americans give them food and water -- helicopters drop them on the lifeboat," a pirate from Hobyo village, who identified himself as Hussein, told Reuters.

U.S. officials are anxious to end the standoff, which has gripped Americans since Wednesday when Phillips -- a saxophone-playing, sports-loving father-of-two who lives in rural Vermont -- was taken hostage.

U.S. Navy spotters saw Phillips on Sunday morning, ship owner Maersk Line said in a statement, without giving further details.