WASHINGTON (AP) _ The U.S. military says pirates killed four American hostages they were holding on a yacht off Somalia’s coast. The U.S. Central Command says negotiations had been under way to try to win release of the two couples on the pirated vessel Quest. Gunshots were heard; and when U.S. forces reached the yacht, they found four all four hostages had been shot.
A weekend prayer service was held at St. Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica, Calif., for Scott and Jean Adam, owners of the sailing vessel Quest, who are longtime members of the church.
Organizers of an international yacht race called the Blue Water Rally identified the other two Americans onboard as Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle, who are from Seattle. Two pirates and a Somali official said the yacht was hijacked Friday and was being sailed to Puntland, a haven for pirates in Somalia. The pirates said the Quest was being shadowed by a warship. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said officials were assessing options and “possible responses.” The Adams have been sailing the world with a yacht full of Bibles since 2004.
Since 2004, Adam and his wife have used their yacht, the Quest, to distribute Bibles in remote parts of the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia. Scott and Jean Adam and Seattle residents Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle were aboard the Quest when it was seized Friday by Somali pirates, who typically demand huge ransoms for their hostages.
Professor Robert Johnston of Fuller Theological Seminary says the Adams took precautions as they prepared to sail near Somalia and had asked people to pray for them.
Read more about the Yacht the couple use to send Bibles worldwide on their website.
