Yacht Pair Kidnapped

[ll_billym]

Does anybody think that the taxpayer should shell out any money (let alone £4.3m) to get these two released?

Neither you nor I are being held by pirates because we didn't go sailing on our yacht in an area that is known for piracy. If people want to go and do this then they should make sure they have the funds to get themselves released should they get kidnapped, and if that's beyond their means then they should take a route that they can actually afford on their trip of a lifetime.

There are clear warnings on government websites about piracy in the Indian Ocean so why do they expect the government to pay up when they choose to ignore it.


http://news.bbc.co.uk...land/kent/8371446.stm

http://www.fco.gov.uk...ing-safe/river-safety

[Hawkwalk]

the government just gave a few billiion to the banks who are a bit like pirates so I guess a few million for these two is a drop in the ocean.

[fredpuli47]

No. Next !

[Sandy-Wroe]

There should be a few Q Boats operating in those waters. If the pirates knew there was a chance they'd encounter heavily armed opposition when they tried to take a merchant ship they might think twice.
The couple were foolhardy to sail in that area. We shouldn't pay for their mistake.

[Sqad]

If they were my family or very close friends then I would ask the Government to pay up.

They are not, so I feel that the UK Government is correct in refusing to pay the ransom, thus opening the floodgates to further kidnapping.

How about inviting the Somali Pirates to deal with the tankers lying idle of the South West coast of the UK waiting for a rise in the price of oil, as that would seem a more lucrative operation for them.

[Twenty20]

I do wonder about the mentality of people who put themselves at risk like this and then expect to be bailed out when it goes wrong. Perhaps they should have taken out insurance cover before they went sailing in pirate infested waters? If they couldn't get the insurance or couldn't afford it then don't go.

[rov1200]

The Somali peasant fishermen started out with the old spare rifle and a dhow. Now they have grenade launchers, machine guns, expensive 4 x 4's and are very rich. I suppose the next step is to recruit more somalis, buy bigger and bigger craft, travel further and further and get Islamic backing.

We should never have started from here but this illegal hijacking must stop by not rewarding them.

[andy-hughes]

I find your attitude extremely callous.

Do you leave your house every morning with enough money to pay for life-saving surgery if you are hit by a bus because you are going to cross a road?

You cannot seriously be suggesting that this couple 'got what they deserved'? Or can you.

I hope I never need a blood transfusion if you are in my group!

[madmaggot]

I don't think that the government (or anyone else) should pay the ransom. Not because 'If people want to go and do this then they should make sure they have the funds to get themselves released should they get kidnapped' which IMO is the most rediculous statement since the one I just read on pregnant servicewomen! But because any monies paid out the these people just furnishes them with the means to continue their piracy. They started out on a small scale with hand weapons but the big corporations paid large ransoms to them and now they have made themselves into a small army. As hard as it is for the relatives and friends (and the people themselves), the pirates have to be stopped.

[Toureman]

Our government do not pay hostage ransoms so the question is irrelevant