Pirates release Danes seized from S/V ING.

Somali pirates release Danish family and crew from yacht ING.

AFP September 07, 2011

"The seven Danes have been released and brought to safety," the Denmark foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that all were well and would return to Denmark soon.

Denmark gave no details of their release but Ecoterra International said a ransom was dropped by aircraft, and local Somali sources claimed up to four million US dollars had been paid for their release.

Jan Qvist Johansen, his wife Birgit Marie and their three children aged 13 to 17 left Denmark in August 2009 on a round-the-world trip by yacht and had been sailing about 500 kilometres off the coast of Somalia when they were seized by pirates on February 24.

"Mediation was going on between the pirates and individuals working on their release in the past two weeks," said Abduwahab Ali, an elder in the coastal village of Bandarbeyla, close to pirate bases in the northern Puntland region.

The couple were criticised in Denmark after their abuduction, accused of acting irresponsibly by taking their children into pirate-infested waters.

"We... set up an anti-piracy plan to know what to do if we are attacked, and each day we send our position" to an international naval force monitoring the Indian Ocean, father Jan posted on the blog on February 19.
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In reality, the yacht ING seemed to have taken very sensible measures considering the time of year and the weather reports. Their only mistake may have been over reliance on the inclination of EUFOR to react to any distress calls. Of course the fact that EUFOR requires yachts to report their positions on an open frequency and to activate their AIS equipment is absurd since it is well known that pirate mother ships are equipped with AIS receivers, satellite phones and night vision equipment. EUFOR is tasked to protect commercial shipping rather than private yachts. It would often take thirty minutes for a EUFOR helicopter to arrive on scene and two hours for a naval vessel to arrive. Usually a naval vessel that is on scene will not intervene in any hijacking attempt that is in progress for various political and economic reasons.

I am informed that the air-dropped ransom did not originate with any insurance company. As always, the Somali clans and sub-clans involved in piracy are well known and nothing ever happens to them nor to the wealthy businessmen who run the piracy operations conducted by poverty stricken peasants.

Piracy in the Indian Ocean is very profitable. Just as it was very profitable for American merchants to supply the Madagascar pirate vessels it is very profitable for Middle Eastern nations to keep the pirates well supplied. Modern day piracy in the Indian Ocean will not stop until we start using Q-ships and take immediate and effective action against them as well as against the entire sub-clans known to be involved.