Somali pirates hijack Saudi oil tanker

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Hmmm, are the shippers, or more accurately their insurance companies, paying ransom to get back their crews or their ships. It's easy to say both, but I wonder if they would still pay with the crew dead?

I think so... business is business.

There was a captain of a ship that had been attacked before on (I believe it was) CNN. He said (I'm paraphrasing) they didn't want to have armed guards on board because they felt it would escalate the situation (and also it is illegal in some countries), and it was more beneficial to just pay the money. So I guess in a sense he was saying paying the money was thought of as a cost of doing business in that part of the world.

Why would they pay if the crew/hostages are dead? If they start killing hostages, then I would think most countries would fight back.

The problem, apparently, is Somalia is ungovernable. In addition, a lot of this money is going to al qaeda. It is an international problem, and there needs to be an international solution.