updated 3/1/2011 1:58:16 PM ET 2011-03-01T18:58:16

Any attempt to rescue a Danish family captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean will result their deaths — just like the four American sailors slain by their captors last week, a Somali pirate warned Tuesday.

Maritime experts said the Danes — a couple with three teenage children aged 12 to 16 — placed themselves in grave danger by sailing into pirate-infested waters off Somalia's lawless coast despite warnings from naval forces struggling to police the area.

The family was captured Thursday by pirates along with two Danish adult crew members after sending a distress signal from their sailboat, the Danish government said, adding it was doing "everything in our power" to help them.



    1. Castaway's parents thought they would never see him again


    2. Scotland legalizes same-sex marriage
    3. Weapons deal strengthened Assad: US intel chief
    4. Outcry over the fate of Sochi's stray dogs
    5. Olympic construction leaves Sochi residents in the cold

The American deaths were a game-changer in the world of piracy. Somali pirates have captured hundreds of ships and thousands of crew members over the years — right now they have 660 hostages and some 30 vessels. But virtually all the hostages would be released unharmed after pirates negotiated multimillion-dollar ransoms for them and their ships.





"Of course, we talked quite a lot about it (the American hijacking) but this is far over thousands of kilometers (miles) away and the Arabian Sea that we sail in is the size of Europe," the family said a Feb. 20 posting on ING ING is the name of their boat.

Two days later, the Americans were killed.

The Danish family's last posting on Feb. 23 — a day before their own hijacking — only said their journey was uneventful and "we have NOT been boarded by pirates."

The blog identified the family as Jan Quist Johansen, his wife Birgit Marie Johansen, their sons Rune and Hjalte and their daughter Naja. They are from Kalundborg, 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Copenhagen.



The Johansens had been sending daily position and status updates by e-mail since Feb. 17 to the British Royal Navy's UK Maritime Trade Operations, which acts as a liaison for ships traveling through waters threatened by pirates, said Wing Cmdr. Paddy O'Kennedy, a spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy force.



The EU and other warships do not provide escorts for individual ships, although they do patrol a maritime corridor that shipping is urged to stick to. Reporting a daily position, like the Johansens did, might give a warship a slightly quicker reaction time but even that doesn't mean help could reach the ship under attack in time, he said.

"Even traveling in groups is not a protection for yachts. It's just a bigger target for the pirates," he said. "When you're on a yacht, it can take seconds from when (the pirates) are seen to when they're onboard."





In the blog, family members wrote that they saw overflights by counter-piracy patrol planes. "It is reassuring that they look after us," a Feb. 20 post said. A day earlier, the family blogged they had drawn up "a piracy plan for who does what if we are attacked."


  1. Only on
    1. OWN via Getty Images
      From belief to betrayal: How America fell for Armstrong
    2. pool via Reuters file
      US to Syria neighbors: Be ready to act on WMDs
    3. China: One-child policy is here to stay
    4. NRA: Practice Range
      New 'Practice Range' shooter game says it’s from NRA
    5. 'Gifted' priest indicted in crystal meth case
    6. AFP - Getty Images
      China's state media admits to air pollution crisis
    7. AFP - Getty Images
      French to send 1,000 more troops to Mali


Denmark's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday advised citizens against traveling in sailboats in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the northwestern Indian Ocean.

Muhumed reported from Nairobi, Kenya. Associated Press reporter Katharine Houreld in Nairobi also contributed to this report.



Discussion comments


Most active discussions

  1. votes comments
  2. votes comments
  3. votes comments
  4. votes comments