US captain freed by Navy snipers arrives in Kenya

MOMBASA, Kenya - The sea captain who clashed with Somali pirates and was freed by U.S. Navy snipers is arriving in port in Kenya aboard an American destroyer.

Capt. Richard Phillips originally planned to arrive a day earlier and reunite with the crew of the Maersk Alabama. But the USS Bainbridge that is transporting him diverted to answer a distress call from another U.S. cargo ship attacked by pirates.

The Liberty Sun arrived in Mombasa earlier Thursday with a bridge battered by grenades and windows blown out by gunfire but its 20 crew unharmed.

Phillips' crew flew home from Kenya and were reunited with their families Wednesday.

A security official at Kenya's Mombasa airport says a charter plane is on standby Thursday to whisk Phillips home to Vermont.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)