Somali Pirates Kill Four U.S. Hostages

By KEITH JOHNSON

Somali pirates shot and killed four American hostages Tuesday on a 58-foot yacht seized last week in the Arabian Sea, the U.S. military said.

U.S. Navy forces trailing the yacht, the Quest, stormed the vessel after hearing gunfire on board, killing two pirates and capturing 13 more.

Two of the Americans, Jean and Scott Adam, had been sailing around the world on their yacht since 2004 and were joined for this journey by Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, veteran sailors who had previously circumnavigated the globe in their own vessel.

Somali Pirates executed four Americans on a Yacht hijacked off the coast of Oman. U.S. special forces immediately stormed the Yacht killing two pirates and detaining 13.

Negotiations for the release of the Americans were under way early Tuesday when pirates on the vessel fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the destroyer USS Sterett, one of four ships trailing the yacht, according to U.S. Central Command. Then, U.S. forces heard the small-arms fire and boarded the yacht.

Nineteen pirates took part in the hijacking, the military said, including the 13 captured, two killed in the boarding, two others found dead on the vessel and two who were already in U.S. custody. President Barack Obama had authorized the use of deadly force by the Navy.

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Associated Press

In this June 11, 2005 file photo provided by Joe Grande, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle are seen on a yacht in Bodega Bay, California.

Other Somali pirates who had been in contact with their colleagues on the seized yacht told Reuters on Tuesday that the hostages were executed after the U.S. opened fire on the pirates, killing two of them.

U.S. officials denied that version of events and said no U.S. vessels fired on the Quest. Vice Admiral Mike Fox, head of the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, added that the assault team didn't fire on the pirates while boarding but killed two later.

Piracy in the Indian Ocean, and especially in the waters near Somalia, has become endemic in recent years. Lawless Somalia provides a haven for pirates who roam hundreds of miles to sea, targeting potentially lucrative prizes such as tankers. The deadly showdown Tuesday could stoke further violence in the region, one pirate said.

"We will kill Americans on the spot as soon as we set eyes on their citizens—this attack will mainly harm them, not us," said Ali Hussein, a Somali pirate in the Puntland town of Garacad.

The pace, scope and cost of such attacks are all increasing, threatening the viability of a major shipping lane between Asia and the Suez Canal. There were 444 piracy attacks world-wide in the first 11 months of 2010, according to the United Nation's International Maritime Organization. In all of 2009, there were 406 and 300 in 2008.

The U.S. and Europe have responded to the rise in attacks by stepping up naval patrols; among the warships following the Quest was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. European forces also operate a piracy task force in the Indian Ocean.

The four Americans had made part of their journey, from Thailand to the West Coast of India, with fellow sailors organized by Blue Water Rallies, a U.K.-based yachting group. The group has for 15 years helped sailors navigate pirate-plagued waters near the Red Sea, but the Quest broke away to chart its own course from Mumbai to Oman just days before it was attacked, the group said.

Mr. and Mrs. Adam met through the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. They shared a love of sailing and faith, and sold their homes in 2002 to build a yacht so they could spend six months a year sailing around the world on carefully planned voyages. They carried Bibles to distribute on their voyage. "They were adventurers who loved meeting new people," said Robert Johnston, a professor at Fuller who was close to the couple.

Fighting pirates at sea is complicated. Expanses of open water—about 2 million square miles just off the coast of Somalia—tax the ability of naval forces to effectively patrol. Naval assaults of private yachts, in particular, have proven problematic. In April 2009, a raid by French commandos on a private yacht freed some passengers but killed the yacht's owner.

Further, to successfully prosecute captured pirates, naval forces essentially need catch them in the act. And the judicial systems in nearby countries, especially Kenya and the Seychelles, are already overloaded, further complicating the legal fight against piracy.

The Quest incident "rather underscores the futility of current anti-piracy efforts and suggest the need for a markedly different approach," said Eugene Kontorovich, an expert on maritime law at Northwestern University Law School.               

Write to Keith Johnson at keith.johnson@wsj.com