Children now? Pirate Content...

[LandLocked66c]

Somali pirates 'seize Danish children' in Indian Ocean

Denmark's foreign ministry said the children were aged between 12 and 16, and that two Danish crew members were also captured during the attack.

Pirates seized the boat on 24 February and were said to be heading to Somalia.

Piracy is a highly lucrative trade in Somalia, where gangs can often demand millions of dollars in ransoms.

As of last week, the EU's anti-piracy naval force said pirates were holding a total of 31 vessels, and 688 hostages.

Many of the vessels they target are cargo ships sailing near the Gulf of Aden - one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Increasing violence

The foreign ministry told the AP news agency that the ship sent a distress signal on Thursday: "It has now been confirmed that the sailboat was hijacked by pirates."

The Danes are be the second group of non-commercial sailors seized by pirates in recent weeks.

A group of Americans was seized earlier in February, and four of them were killed as the US Navy tried to rescue them.

US forces say the pirates shot them.

Analysts say the piracy industry is becoming increasingly lucrative - Somali gangs recently hijacked a tanker with $200m (Ł136m) worth of crude oil on board.

International naval forces patrolling the area are becoming more willing to send in commando teams to free hostages.

But the pirates also appear to be responding with increasing violence - two Philippine sailors were murdered last month by pirates angered at an attempted rescue.

[jcalvinmarks]

Savages.

It is disgraceful, by the way, that these miscreants that slaughtered the crew of the Quest are still drawing breath. They'd be at the bottom of the Indian Ocean with cinder blocks shackled to their ankles if I had anything to do with it.

[SlowButSteady]

I gotta question the wisdom of sailing to Somalia, particularly with kids on board.

[LandLocked66c]

Why haven't these sailors gotten the hell out of the indian ocean? Seems to me that even being near the affected area is ridiculous... What gives?

[JonEisberg]

Originally Posted by SlowButSteady

I gotta question the wisdom of sailing to Somalia, particularly with kids on board.

Not to mention, blogging about it, with current position position reports posted with each entry... This is the Danish yacht ING's track straight though the heart of the area of pirate activity, available for anyone with internet access to see:

They're not the only ones doing this, it would appear the desire to blog trumps all reason...

You've really got to wonder, what planet some of these people are from...

[SlowButSteady]

Originally Posted by JonEisberg

Not to mention, blogging about it, with current position position reports posted with each entry... This is the Danish yacht ING's track straight though the heart of the area of pirate activity, available for anyone with internet access to see:

They're not the only ones doing this, it would appear the desire to blog trumps all reason...

You've really got to wonder, what planet some of these people are from...

DUH!!!

[sailingdog]

Utter stupidity.

[LandLocked66c]

There is something really wrong with this? I thought cruisers communicated with each other? Are there radios broken?????

[Argyle38]

You have GOT to be kidding me!!

Do these idiots think that the pirates don't have internet? They made something like $100 million last year in ransom money. I think you can afford some broadband with that. And what I mean by broadband is they could afford to get their own fiber-optic cable run from Egypt.

[killarney_sailor]

In another 12 months or so I will have to make the decision about which way to continue our circumnavigation either Red Sea or around South Africa. It is not an easy decision and there are lots of considerations including (but not limited to): which set of destinations is most interesting since the two sets are so different, distance, and how do you compare the pirate risk to the weather risk around the Cape (of Storms). Lots of boats do the Red Sea route but with care - travelling in convoys, having the significant naval forces in the region keep an eye on you, no lights, AIS, taking down radar reflectors, restricting radio use (heard of one convoy that switched their radios to Canadian frequencies and only talked to each other on the Canadian Coast Guard channel (not likely to be monitored by the bad guys). I agree that a blog with positions does not make much sense.