A Harlem man is safe and on his way home just days after his food aid ship was hijacked by Somali pirates.
William Rios, 41, was a crew member aboard the Maersk Alabama when it was ambushed last week by pirates who then took the captain hostage, demanding a ransom.
Rios’ wife, Sherry, said her prayers were answered when she got word her husband of 17 years had been freed and had survived the terrifying ordeal.
"I just screamed and shouted "thank you, thank you, thank you," she said.
William Rios made a 90-second phone call home to Harlem on Saturday night from a cell phone passed around among crew members on the ship, now docked in the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
That phone call came a day before the captain of the ship Richard Philips, was freed from his hostages by Navy snipers.
William Rios, who grew up in Park Slope and Red Hook, Brooklyn, is a 20-year veteran of the Merchant Marine and has sailed all around the world, including a stint in the Persian Gulf War.
