Seven Danes taken hostage in Indian Ocean

Family with three children kidnapped by Somali pirates

A Danish family on a sailing trip around the world were abducted last week by Somali pirates, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Two parents, along with their three children - aged 13, 15 and 17 - and two deckhands were reportedly kidnapped while en route from the Maldives to the Red Sea last Thursday.

In mid-February the family’s 43-foot long yacht ING left the Maldives. Last Tuesday, the 17-year-old son wrote on the family’s blog that they were halfway between the Maldives and the Arabian Sea. He also wrote that everything was as normal and that they had not been attacked by pirates.

The next morning the occupants of the ship were attacked by Somali pirates and taken hostage.

They managed to get off an emergency call, and the Danish warship ‘Esbern Snare’ is currently headed for the area where the boat was hijacked, some 300 kilometres off the Somali coast.

Danish experts in security and hostage negotiations expressed their surprise that the Danish family ignored all warnings about sailing into the waters where hijackings are almost a daily occurrence.

News about the hijacking had been kept secret until Monday. Intelligence agency PET had asked all relatives to keep the incident secret as all information coming out of Denmark could easily be forwarded to the Somali kidnappers