The Danish couple with three children, aged between 12 and 16, were captured along with two adult crew members, also Danes, when their yacht was seized by pirates Thursday, February 24, the Danish government said. The family managed to transmit an emergency call as their 43-foot yacht, the ING, was attacked, according to reports, and it is believed that the Danish warship, Esbern Snare, has been tasked to shadow the vessel, which was hijacked approximately 300 kilometres (186 miles) off the coast of Somalia.
Just days before the hijacking, the family had written on a travel blog that it was in daily contact with anti-piracy naval forces and had prepared a “piracy plan” in case of an attack.
The blog postings chronicling the family’s round-the-world journey displays that they entered the area well aware that the American yacht, SV Quest, had been hijacked and the crew killed by pirates, but were comforted by the presence of the international counter-piracy forces which saw aircraft passing over and radio contact made with naval units. The blog identified the family as Jan Quist Johansen, his wife, Birgit Marie Johansen, their sons Rune and Hjalte and their daughter Naja, all are from Kalundborg, 75 miles west of Copenhagen, Denmark. The only previous incidence of a hijack off Somalia involving children was the French yacht, Tanit, in 2009 where the skipper, the father of the 3-year-old boy, was killed during the rescue by the French Commandos. Two pirates were also killed in the operation.
The chairman of the Kalundborg yacht club, Ole Meridin Petersen, called them “experienced sailors” and said they were planning to enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez canal from the Red Sea. That particular route would take the family through the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden, still one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.
The kidnapping of the Danish vessel has also sent a strong message to the participants of the Blue Water Rally yacht event that occurs in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden regions. Over 20 yachts remain in Salalah, Oman. The yacht owners consider the dangers of leaving the normally safe port as too risky and may now look to ship their yachts to a European destination, rather than run the gauntlet of pirate-ridden waters.
Some 33 ships and 711 hostages are held by Somali pirates, as of February 28. In 2011, so far, there has been 13 incidences of vessels being hijacked in the region with 7 seafarers killed. Only 1 less than those killed during 2010.
(Johansen family. Img source: sail-world.com)
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