Pirates Kidnap Danish Children
Los Angeles Times reports:
Three children are among seven Danes who have been kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean, Danish officials said Monday.
The youths, ages 12 to 16, were taken captive along with their parents and two other adults on board a sailing vessel that put out a distress call Thursday, the Danish Foreign Ministry said. Media reports said the ship was on its way to Somalia, but the purpose of the voyage was unclear.
It's believed to be the first time that children have been victims in the spate of hostage-taking bedeviling the waters off eastern Africa. Lene Espersen, Denmark's foreign minister, said officials were in close contact with the victims' families.
"It is almost unbearable to think that there are children involved," she said in a statement Monday.
Espersen said the Danish government would not say much about the situation, for fear that media attention could make things worse. Just two days before the Danish boat issued its distress signal, four Americans aboard another hijacked ship were shot and killed by their Somali captors.
Pirates have become a major scourge in recent years on the high seas of the Indian Ocean and around the Gulf of Aden. Although international naval forces have stepped up patrols, the area is too vast to be made completely safe.
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