Yacht Reportedly Captured Near Somalia

The yacht SY Choizil went missing off Bajuni Island of Koyaama at the Southern coast of Somalia.

(NAIROBI, Kenya) - As of today, at least 28 foreign vessels plus one barge are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 508 hostages or captives - including an elderly British yachting couple and the 5 new hostages from Somaliland.

Now information released by Ecoterra Intl. indicates that a report of a captured yacht, has been confirmed; though it leaves a number of questions.

Earlier information originating from the Seychelles through the Seafarer's networks, indicated that a sailing yacht with three persons had possibly been abducted.

A a couple of days ago, on 4 Nov., observers sighted a yacht near the Bajuni Island of Koyaama at the Southern coast of Somalia. The search was on to identify the boat, but neither the Seychelles not the network of yachts-people reported any missing yacht.

However, in a tragic event and after a chase by naval forces, who escalated the situation, it can now be reported that the yacht is named SY Choizil. The skipper, who had reportedly jumped overboard during the naval helicopter swoop, during which shots were fired, later was picked up. He is said to a South-African by nationality.

The skipper arrived in the meantime at the Kenyan harbour of Mombasa on board of a Dutch warship.

A woman and a young man are said to have been then abducted from the yacht and a presently held hostage, and questions still are open concerning a possible fourth person on board.

While the South African International Relations and Cooperation Department has now confirmed that no South African man was killed in the incident, the Spokesman for the department, Saul Molobi, would only say a man killed during the incident was not South African.

Earlier reports had stated that there was a man of Italian origin on board in addition to the South-African skipper.

In the case of the sea-jacked, allegedly drug-smuggling yacht SY Serenity the existence of a fourth man on board and his identity was withheld by the authorities for unknown reasons.

"We only can hope that the different reports speaking of the killing of one man, whereby at present nobody can say if that had been caused by the naval interaction or by the pirates, will turn out to be not correct at all," said a spokesman from ECOTERRA Intl. and added "and we hope and urge the local elders to ensure that the innocent woman and the young man will be set free immediately."

With matching reports saying the skipper jumped overboard and was picked up, while 2 people were confirmed abducted, it however could still be possible that another person was on board and was killed in the ensuing havoc.

In a sad precedent, the skipper of the French yacht SY Tanit was killed by French troopers in an ill-advised and blotched rescue attempt.

ECOTERRA has been issuing statements over the naval interventions with Somali pirates.

"The world and the navies don't get it: Do they not realize that long after Somalia was neglected and only after the navies appeared and interfered at the Horn of Africa the real piracy developed and surged? Now the situation has reached a new all-time high: Over 500 people held captive. The world holds Somalia hostage and the Somali pirates the world."

The latest yacht abducted in the Indian Ocean was SY Lynn Rival, the boat from which the British sailing couple Paul and Rachel Chandler was captured on their trip from the Seychelles to Tanzania. The elderly couple is now held since over a year hostage while the case is neglected and surrounded by deals gone sour. While most serious media seem to have been muzzled on this case, a recent article in the British gutter-press, which also gave a false record of the events, demonstrated only once more the neglect which characterizes the fate of this British couple since they were taken hostage by an unscrupulous gang.