A Danish couple on a round-the-world journey with their three children knew they were sailing in the world’s most pirate-infested waters off East Africa, but they seemed to be brimming with confidence.
On a blog on which they chronicled their voyage, they reported that they had drawn up a “pirate plan” in case of attack. They sent daily position reports to naval authorities. They were comforted by the sight of anti-piracy patrol planes overhead. And they thought the vastness of the sea would help protect them.
Just days later, it became clear their confidence was misplaced.
Jan Quist Johansen, his wife, Birgit Marie Johansen, and their sons, Rune and Hjalte, and daughter, Naja, ages 12 to 16, were captured by pirates last week in the Indian Ocean. Two adult Danish crewmembers were also seized in the attack on the Johansens’ sailboat.
A Somali pirate warned on Tuesday that if any attempt is made to rescue them, they will meet the same fate as the four US yachters slain by their captors last week.
Maritime experts said the Johansens had foolishly placed themselves in grave danger off Somalia’s lawless coast despite warnings from naval forces struggling to police the area against pirates.
Per Gullestrup, head of Danish shipowner Clipper, said it was “totally insane” for a yacht to sail on its own into waters where much bigger commercial ships often travel in convoys with armed guards.
“They sailed right into the pirates’ arms,” said Gullestrup, whose company owns a cargo ship that was held by Somali pirates for more than two months in 2009.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not