Somali pirates hijack US yacht: NGO

[Viva_La_Revolution]

Source: AFP

NAIROBI — Somali pirates on Friday hijacked a yacht with four Americans on board in the Indian Ocean, a non-governmental organisation monitoring regional maritime activity said.

Ecoterra International said the S/V Quest was seized in the afternoon 240 nautical miles (275 miles) off the coast of Oman.

"S/V Quest was attacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean and the four Americans on board are being held hostage," it said.

"The sailing yacht was reportedly now en route from India to Mina Raysut, the industrial port of Salalah, Oman," Ecoterra added.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g9EFYy2bUyaPC85EI_NdwA3q_0ag?docId=CNG.caf89b431a9c66f3e75cf5c8f5b2c68e.1091

[cbayer]

1. Very bad news. it is tragic that people can no longer safely make a circumnavigation

without going around the capes.

They are in my thoughts and I hope that they are released unharmed very quickly.

[Xithras]

2. This will not end well

The Quest is owned by a couple of full time livaboard retirees who also happen to be Christian missionaries and have dedicated their retirement to "finding homes for Bibles". The fact that they're American was going to weigh strongly against them. American Missionaries? I'm pessimistic about a happy ending.

http://www.svquest.com

They've apparently been sailing around China and southeast Asia for the past few years, and were in the process of relocating to Crete when they were hijacked.

[FLPanhandle]

3. As a sailor, I wish nothing but a horrible death to pirates

I hope the sailors are okay.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. This is going to end badly for the pirates.

Here's hoping it doesn't also end badly for the hostages.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. Update: U.S. officials confirm that a yacht with Americans aboard has been seized

http://abcnews.go.com/International/somali-pirates-seize-yacht-quest-americans-board/story?id=12953566

U.S. officials confirm to ABC News that the yacht has been seized by pirates, but say it is unclear how many Americans may have been aboard have been aboard at the time the boat was seized. One U.S. official said there were two males and two females aboard the vessel at the time that it was seized.

[Haole Girl]

6. Somali pirates hijack yacht of U.S. couple on Bible mission

Source: latimes.com

Jean and Scott Adam have been roaming the world for six years, using Marina del Rey as their mail drop.

Pirates off the coast of Somalia have hijacked the yacht of a couple on a worldwide voyage distributing Bibles, according to Somalia's U.N. Mission.

Jean and Scott Adam have been sailing around the world for six years on their sailboat, the S/V Quest. They have raced with the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, which has been their mail drop during their global odyssey.

Omar Jamal, first secretary at the Somali mission, said Friday that pirates in the Indian Ocean had taken four U.S. citizens captive when they hijacked the S/V Quest, according to the Associated Press.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-yacht-captured-20110219,0,73608.story

[somone]

7. They have an interesting website at

http://www.svquest.com/

[Haole Girl]

8. There is more info on msnbc, too

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41672888/ns/world_news-africa

[zonkers]

19. Cool site. Too bad for these adventurers. They seem like awesome folks. Wish them the best under

these circumstances.

[Corruption Winz]

9. Obviously, something like this is horrible...

However, I will say, the skeptic in me hopes this scares off other missionaries.

[Maine_Nurse]

10. Hopefully the SEALs get more target practice outta this.

[quakerboy]

12. Its on the news.

Its a good guess they mean to do something about it.

[Archae]

13. I agree.

Rush Limbaugh had a snitfit when SEALS took out one group of the pirates.

[jmowreader]

14. How the hell...

does someone who's pro-piracy like Rush Limbaugh manage to retain an audience?

[NuttyFluffers]

18. maybe he's a Pastafarian, worried that pirate loss aggravates global warming?

Flying Spaghetti Monster convert incognito?

[jaysunb]

11. Welcome to DU

and I concur....:hi:

[cbayer]

20. Wait, what? Are a few bibles being distributed around the world so scary that

armed hostage taking of innocent sailors is somehow justified?

Yep, let's hope more Somali pirates get out there and stop some of those evil, evil missionaries.

:banghead:

[Historic NY]

15. I didn't know the Gideons had a naval branch ???

A sailing yacht couldn't possibly carry a lots of bibles now...could it.

[RSillsbee]

16. Depends on its size

Bibles can be packed into a small space. I've done some ocean sailing and you learn to use every available inch of space.

[RSillsbee]

17. Seems to me sailors should have the right

To carry self defense weaponry on the high seas. I know when I was sailing off the coast of Florida it was unheard of to leave the dock w/out some type of firearm

[cbayer]

22. They are. It's bringing them in and out of certain countries that presents a problem.

That being said, these pirates are often heavily armed and a couple of sailors with weapons have little hope.

Here is a great story about two boats that avoided piracy using a shotgun and a steel boat as their defense.

http://www.noonsite.com/Members/doina/R2005-03-14-1

[RSillsbee]

27. This is my opinion

Criminals have nothing to gain by pressing an attack against an armed opponent, In many cases as soon as the home owner starts shooting back home invaders retreat. I realize pirates are different but the principle applies.

There is no profit margin in getting killed trying to take my boat while I'm shooting back, much easier to simply go find an unarmed target

[cbayer]

28. We are talking Somali pirates here, with possible links to terrorists, not American

home invaders looking for a dvd player and some cash for meth.

These pirates have nothing to lose.

Nice try, but not a comparison that comes even close or is at all germane to this situation.

[RSillsbee]

29. I stated that it was my opinion and that there were differences

But the similarity is that (contrary to your opinion) the Somali pirates do have something to lose, their life.

Which argues to me that there's no percentage in taking out an armed opponent when there are so many unarmed victims to be had

[Salander]

21. In defense of pirates

I'm not endorsing piracy, but it is important to understand the Somali pirate situation in context:

Somalia is a failed state, largely the fault of meddling from outside powers, largely Western states. Somalis have no government, no navy or coast guard to patrol their seas. Factory fishing combined with Europeans dumping industrial waste off their coast has made fishing untenable as a way of life for thousands of Somali fishermen. Many of them have turned to piracy simply as the most viable means of survival.

Somali's more powerful neighbors and the Western states are the real pirates of the world. At least the Somali pirates have, by and large, been humane to their hostages. There have been few, if any, reports of hostages being brutalized, tortured, or killed.

I don't see them as heroes, and I'm sure that some of them are in it for the money, but let's be careful not to blame the victims.

[Ter]

30. You're entitled to you opinion

Mine is we should take the pirates out with head shots.

[mainer]

23. I know several round-the-worlders who now stop and fly home

Because of piracy. The old sailor's dream of sailing round the world is no more.

[backwoodsbob]

24. I would guess

this is where they fucked up.

LOTS of pirates are about to die

[cbayer]

25. Update:U.S. considers military action after pirates seize boat

U.S. military officials said they are considering a response after reports that pirates off the coast of Somalia hijacked the yacht belonging to an Orange County couple on a worldwide voyage distributing Bibles.

Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette, deputy commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, told CNN on Saturday that the U.S. is prepared to intervene to rescue the couple if they are indeed aboard the boat.

"They were part of a sailing group that set sail from the southern tip of India into the western Indian Ocean," he told the network
.
Omar Jamal, first secretary at the Somali mission, said Friday that pirates in the Indian Ocean had taken four U.S. citizens captive when they hijacked the S/V Quest. The other two people have not been identified.

more at:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/02/us-considers-military-action-after-pirates-seize-orange-county-couples-boat.html

[cbayer]

26. Update: Pirates bringing hijacked US yacht to Somali lair

MOGADISHU — Somali pirates who hijacked a yacht believed to have Americans onboard were expected to bring the boat back to their main base of Hobyo, a senior pirate commander told AFP Saturday.

According to Ecoterra International, a non-governmental organisation monitoring maritime activity in the region, pirates hijacked the S/V Quest with four Americans onboard Friday in the Indian Ocean.

Abdi Yare, a top pirate commander in Hobyo, 500 kilometres (300 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu, said the boarding squad that captured the yacht left a week earlier from Harardhere, another pirate base further south.

"The pirate team that hijacked the yacht is led by a senior commander from the Harardhere area," he said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jQqAfKvsWSXWN02K1rXXK15_IfVw?docId=CNG.9576ed0a3c481c5b26ead35227ca1523.fc1

[Rex]

31. They stole the boat?

Wow, surely they know it will end in their deaths now. We don't negotiate with terrorist, we shoot them in the head. Terrorist, pirate, all the same imo.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[cbayer]

33. Update: Pirates: Warship shadowing hijacked American yacht

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Two pirates and a Somalia official say a hijacked yacht with four Americans onboard is nearing the Somali coast, and that it's being shadowed by a warship.

The three say the yacht Quest is in the waters between Yemen and northern Somalia. One pirate gave his name as Bile Hussein, the second gave his name only as Hassan, who said he is in contact with pirates on the Quest. The Puntland official asked not to be named because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

Hussein said a warship with a helicopter on its deck is near the Quest.

Four Americans sailing around the world are aboard the yacht, which was hijacked off Oman on Friday. If they are taken to land, it would likely lengthen their hostage ordeal considerably.

[somone]

34. Pirates just want money for their alcohol, drugs and prostitutes:

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/20/pirates-warship-shadowing-hijacked-american-yacht/

...The best-known case of Westerners being held hostage in Somalia was that of Paul and Rachel Chandler, a British couple held for 388 days. The two, who were captured while sailing in their private yacht, were released in November.

The Adams - who are members of the Marina del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, California - run a Bible ministry, according to their website, and have been distributing Bibles to schools and churches in remote villages in areas including the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia.

The pirates from Puntland in northern Somalia are not hardline Islamists and the fact the Adams carry Bibles is not likely to be a problem. Pirates in Puntland are known to spend their ransom spoils on alcohol, drugs and prostitutes.