Yacht hijacked by pirates near Seychelles

Meagan Flood
4/2/09
11:45

The Somali pirates have hijacked yet another ship this past Thursday. This time it wasn’t a cargo ship but a luxury yacht. The Indian Ocean Explorer has fortunately just dropped off its seven tourists passengers but the seven crewmembers are being held hostage. The ship was known to last be owned by a Swiss national but was recently sold. Just last week the Somali pirates hijacked a German military supple ship, which returned fire. The German ship continued to pursue the pirates and was able to detain them with the help of other ships. The foreign warships patrolling the area have forced the pirates to shift their operations to the Indian Ocean. Not making it as easy for the pirates to capture the merchant ships that pass through the Suez Canal where they were holding their operations.

Hopefully with the increase in foreign warships patrolling the waters it’s preventing these Somali pirates from being able to capture more “important” ships, such as those carrying weapons and things of that nature. If these Somali pirates continue to get their hands on weapons and lots of money there is no telling what it could be used for. Thinking about these pirates having that much power and resources gives an uneasy feeling. These pirates clearly have no concern for stopping. They just shift their operations elsewhere and continue hijacking whatever ships they can get their hands on.



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