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| Reported Yacht Hijacking (click to enlarge) |
UPDATE: According to this
report, the yacht has 4 Americans aboard:
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| SV Quest from SV Quest.com, the sailing diary of the yacht owners |
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.
The S/V Quest's owners, retired couple Jean and Scott Adam, have been sailing around the world for more than seven years and detailed in a December update on their website what their travel plans would be for 2011.
Pre-UPDATE: NATO report
here:
February 18, 2011
Latitude: 18°00 N Longitude: 061°02 E
Alert number 092 / 2011.
At 1323 UTC / 18 FEB 11 / a Yacht was reported Hijacked by pirates in position 18°00 N 061°02 E.
***This vessel has been hijacked***
NATO
Standing Warning to Yachts:
The danger of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin is high and continues to increase. Naval forces strongly recommend that yachts do not transit this area. Merchant ships use Best Management Practices (BMP) to win time for the naval forces to assist them. With a low freeboard and slow speed, yachts are particularly vulnerable to pirate attack. Any direct response from naval assets will depend on the proximity to the incident and may not occur. BMP3 and the self protection measures described in them were not designed for cruising yachts nor will they be sufficient to prevent boardings by Somali pirates.
UPDATE: MSC(HOA) reports a hijacked Yemeni fishing boat
here
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| EU Map of Alfardous Hijacking Locale |
On the 13 February, the Yemeni Fishing Vessel ALFARDOUS was believed to have been pirated close to Socotra Island in the Gulf of Aden.
The vessel has a reported crew of 8, nationalities presently not known. There is no further information on the condition of the crew.
EUNAVFOR is monitoring the situation.
Well, they are fairly well screwed. I could say more but the situation sums itself up. However, like there isn't enough to worry about it the region without dumbasses sailing into the danger zone.
ReplyDeleteMembers of certain Naval Special Warfare units have an established history of killing Somali pirates during holiday weekends. KSG and 26 MEU are already on station in the theater. To quote the heroes of Flight 93...Lets Roll.
ReplyDeleteI don't forsee a good ending unfortunately. I think we need to go on the offensive and target the pirates vs reacting once Americans have already been captured.
ReplyDelete1st Anon: No time to start rumors
ReplyDeleteIt’s quite a tragedy, really. Sure, they shouldn’t have been traveling so close to dangerous territory, but they also shouldn’t have to worry about pirates in the 21st century. It’s a little ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI have a video I think you might be interested in embedding on your website: http://www.newsy.com/videos/pirates-hijack-yacht-take-american-hostages/. The video looks at multiple different perspectives on the Somali pirates most recent victim.
I hope you can find some use for the video on your website. Let me know if you have any questions.
Joey Soto Jr.
The Quest was well outside a conventional understanding of the Somali Basin *or* the Gulf of Aden (from Wikipedia: The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Gulf of Aden as follows:[2]
ReplyDeleteOn the Northwest. The Southern limit of the Red Sea [A line joining Husn Murad (12°40′N 43°30′E) and Ras Siyan (12°29′N 43°20′E)].
On the East. The meridian of Cape Guardafui (Ras Asir, 51°16'E).) Note: Cape Guardafui is the furthest Eastern portion of Somalia.