Danish Hostages Taken to Somali Coast

Pirates will now begin trying to get a ransom
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 2, 2011 2:48 PM CST
Danish Hostages Taken to Somali Coast
In this Dec. 6, 2009 file photo Somali government coast guards patrol the coast of Mogadishu, Somalia to keep a watch for pirates who hijack ships off the coast.   (AP photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh, File)

A Danish family whose yacht was hijacked by pirates is now being held along the coast of Somalia, the AP reports. Jan Quist Johansen, his wife, their three teenage children, and two crew members now likely face a lengthy ransom process. They've been moved either to land or to a heavily guarded pirate ship, but reportedly have not been harmed.

The seven-member group has "been added to other nationals in another ship to avoid any possible attack," one pirate tells the AP, though there were conflicting accounts. The hijackers had threatened that if any rescue attempts were attempted while en route to Somali, they would follow the example of their colleagues who killed 4 Americans last week. (More piracy stories.)

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