4
Apr
2009
Somalia
04.04.2009: Posn: 09:36N – 058:35E: Somalia.
Pirates armed with guns hijacked a yacht with it’s five crew members. They sailed the yacht to an undisclosed location and demanded a ransom for the safe release of the crew and yacht. Fearing pirates may take the crew and hold them hostage on land the authorities launched a rescue operation in which four crew members including a child were rescued. However, the skipper was killed in the incident. Two pirates were killed and three others detained by the authorities.
24
Mar
2009
Thailand, Koh Adang – Yachtsman Murdered and Robbed
On Tuesday 24th March, 2009, Yacht “Mr Bean” was lying to a buoy off the SE side of Koh Adang in the Butang Group (20nm NW of Telaga, Langkawi). At around 00.30 three teenage, illegal immigrants from Myanmar (aged 17, 18 and 19) swam out and climbed aboard, where they attacked the Skipper, 64-year-old Malcolm Robertson, in the bow incapacitating him, then his wife Linda, 57, in the aft cabin. She was trussed with rope.The three Burmese men said they climbed on to the Robertsons’ yacht because they were starving after fleeing to a nearby island from rough conditions on a Thai fishing vessel.
Malcolm subsequently came round and challenged the attackers, telling them to get off the boat. The eldest of the three reportedly confessed to both Thai police and a British photographer that he killed Robertson with a hammer after a struggle, then lowered the Englishman’s body into the sea.
The attackers eventually came to get Linda to assist in starting the engine. As she went through the saloon she realised that the sticky substance beneath her feet was a large quantity of thick blood. She was returned to the forepeak.
The attackers drove the boat at full throttle for around six hours, probably heading east around the north of Koh Tarutoa before anchoring in a bay on a small island about 1nm off the Thai mainland near Langu. There they trashed the boat before leaving at around 10am in the dinghy with an unreliable 2HP engine. Linda managed to escape, start the engine and get up the anchor before they could paddle back to Mr Bean.
She went to a nearby fishing fleet to get help and when the Taratoa Park Rangers and police arrived they took-off and quickly arrested the attackers. Linda was detained in hospital, very distraught and bruised by hammer blows and bindings. The hammer and knife used in the attack were both from Mr Bean.
After days of searching, the body of Malcolm Robertson was recovered by fisherman about 10 nautical miles north of Satun’s Lipeh Island at about 3pm on 31 March.
22
Jan
2009
Caribbean, Antigua – Yacht Skipper Shot and Killed
A gunman shot and killed the Australian skipper of a yacht in Antigua on Thursday night, 22 January 2009.
The victim, Drew Gollan, Captain of the 163 foot sailing yacht “Perseus” (a Perini Navi ketch), was walking after dark on the road between English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour. He was shot in the chest at close range outside the Gallery Bar. A source on the island said that he was shot in front of his partner, Elena and young child.
Yachting World were told that Drew and Elena had hired a house on the road behind the Gallery Bar and were on their way home after dinner. An attacker tried to grab Elena’s bag and a gun went off in the struggle, the bullet apparently grazing her foot. Drew chased after the attacker and in an ensuing struggle was shot twice in the chest.
Police Commissioner Thomas Bennett said that currently no arrests have been made.
There are many restaurants in this area usually heavily populated by the sailing community in the evenings. The shooting is reported to have outraged boaters, business owners and local residents and the police have again come under criticism for not protecting the yacht packed English Harbour area.
According to locals, the tragic death is just one more symptom of the increasing drug problem that the island has been battling recently.
The charter and holiday season is at its height in Antigua and this killing comes on top of a number of other attacks including a reported armed robbery at a club on the island and an attack on two hostesses from another yacht.
Yachts due to leave over the next few days have brought their departure plans forward and are on their way out of the island.
This killing has happened in the heart of the yachting community and is bound to have far reaching effects in an area which depends on the yachting trade. Read the rest of this entry »