Virginia grand jury indicts 14 in fatal hijacking of American yacht

By Dana Hedgpeth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 10, 2011

A federal grand jury in Norfolk indicted 14 men from Somalia and Yemen on piracy charges Thursday, alleging that the men hijacked a yacht, took four U.S. citizens hostage, held them for four days and killed them off the Oman coast in the Arabian Sea.

The men, including 13 Somalis, face life in prison if convicted. According to court documents, the group took over a 54-foot yacht called the Quest last month and killed the Americans before a U.S. Navy ship could rescue them.

U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride called it a "heinous and horrific crime" that involved the "slaughter of American citizens."

"They seized the ship, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, and held them at gunpoint for four or five days, and without provocation executed them," MacBride said. "The alleged pirates will now face justice in an American courtroom."

(More here.)