didn't know a west hartfordite

was a crew member of the ship hijacked by pirates (i'm glad you're ALL now safe and sound)

hurry home to your family and friends! and of course welcome back

Conn. crewman reconsiders job after pirate attack

By Susan Haigh
Associated Press Writer
WEST HARTFORD, Conn.—The wife of a Connecticut crew member on a cargo ship attacked by Somali pirates says he told her the incident has convinced him to consider giving up his job. ATM "Zahid" Reza called his wife Jennifer from Kenya moments after news broke that his captain, Richard Phillips, was freed unharmed Sunday.

His wife says Reza told her that he was "terribly relieved" that Phillips was safe.

Reza lives in West Hartford with his wife and 6-year-old son Isa. He was one of 19 sailors who reached safety Saturday, four days after escaping the pirate hijacking......

Conn. crewman reconsiders job after pirate attack
from The Associated Press
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. April 12, 2009, 05:47 pm ET · When ATM "Zahid" Reza left in late January on his latest voyage aboard a cargo ship, he told a friend he knew there was a risk of pirates but thought the problem was over-hyped.

On Sunday, days after escaping a pirate hijacking off the coast of Somalia, the 41-year-old Merchant Marine called his wife and told her he was thinking of quitting because of the frightening incident. Reza has said he was the first to see the pirates board the Maersk Alabama with hooks and ropes, firing into the air.

"Are you going to give up being a Merchant Marine?" Jennifer Reza asked her husband, as stood in her back driveway in West Hartford with several reporters listening to her end of the conversation. The Rezas' 6-year-old son, Isa, crawled in and out of the family's silver Honda Civic, where he and his mother had been reading books to escape the constant barrage of telephone calls from reporters.......