Thursday, March 10, 2011
"Fourteen individuals -- 13 Somalis and one from Yemen -- have been indicted in relation to the pirate attack and murder of four Americans on the Quest sailing vessel," Peter Carr, a spokesman for the US attorney's office in the eastern district of Virginia, told AFP.
The fourteen suspects face charges of piracy, kidnapping and firearms offenses, "but not murder at this time," Carr said.
They are due to appear in court in Norfolk, Virginia, later Thursday, he said.
The men were allegedly part of a band of pirates that commandeered the 58-foot (17.5-meter) Quest as it sailed in waters near Somalia last month.
Four Americans on board, including a retired couple, were found dead after a shoot-out between the pirates and US troops who were tracking the boat.
Most of the hundreds of hijackings that have occurred off the Somali coast over the past three years have been resolved through the payment of a ransom, albeit after sometimes protracted negotiations.
Source: AFP