9th November 2016 - kidnapping from German yacht in the Sulu Sea, Philippines

Wednesday 9^th November 2016

To give a bit of light in my shade today…A photo of some kingfishers on the cliff at Panasia, taken by Michael, who doesn’t wobble the camera as much as I do when he is focussing long-distance.

And a photo of one of Moses’s dear little boys fast asleep and clutching the football we had given him.

And shade because…there has been another dreadful kidnapping in the Philippines.  A German yacht was attacked in the southern islands.  The woman on board was shot and left naked and dead on deck.  Her husband, in his early 70s, has been taken hostage. 

Apparently the Abu Sayyaf rebels are jubilantly saying that they are going to extend their range in the islands; it is all very profitable for them. 

Our much –respected Kjartan, manager of Ocean View Marina (Samal Island, Davao, Mindanao,) has been released, after exactly one year in captivity.  I don’t know how he is but I read an article in which he described the horror and fear, and the sheer ghastliness of hearing his friends John and Rob being beheaded.  In the news articles about the German people it was revealed that a sizeable ransom had been paid for Kjartan’s release…So of course Abu Sayyaf are going to keep on keeping on, doing what they do and making a whacking great profit.

The story about the Germans is actually very interesting.  He had apparently been kidnaped before, and held captive by Somali pirates for many months in 2008.  He did not enjoy this experience at all, and was only released because the German government paid a large ransom.  So what I don’t get is WHY would he decide to go sailing in pirate-riddled waters???   Sorry though I am for him, I absolutely do NOT understand his logic…and I am sure he is not sitting in a rebel stronghold feeling pleased with himself for his “brave” decision to sail into troubled waters…

From The Tribune

World sailor Jurgen Kantner declared after being kidnapped and held captive by Somalian pirates in 2008 that he loved his 30-foot yacht Rockall and "I don't care about pirates or governments."

Late on Sunday, the Philippines military found the yacht drifting off Laparan island, 1000 kilometres south of Manila, in waters near  strongholds of the ruthless kidnap-for-ransom gang Abu Sayyaf.

The naked white body of a woman - believed to be  Mr Kantner's wife Sabine Merz - was sprawled on deck, shot through the head.

And for the second time in his life Mr Kantner, 70, was being held captive, with kidnappers demanding a multimillion-dollar ransom.

The attack on the yacht came only days after the United States warned that terrorist groups were planning kidnappings on central Philippine islands popular with Australian tourists, indicating that Abu Sayyaf is now roaming more widely from its bases in the far southern Philippine islands of Jolo and Basilan.

Mr Kantner, a German national, has lived at sea for more than 40 years.

"I love the life of the boat – you are free. You can stay at a port and if you don't like your neighbour you can just move on," he was quoted as saying in 2009, after a ransom was paid to release him and Ms Merz from 58 days' captivity in a mountain cave.

But questions will be asked as to why Mr Kantner was sailing his battered yacht through the waters of the southern Philippines, where for years Abu Sayyaf has been kidnapping Westerners, Malaysians and Indonesians.

The group is known for beheading hostages if ransoms are not paid, including two Canadians this year.

Formed with the backing of al-Qaeda in the 1990s, Abu Sayyaf has increased its kidnappings in recent weeks as the Philippines military has launched a new offensive against it on the orders of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. The holding of hostages complicates the military operations.

The Philippines military has released a photo of the Rockall and said it was flying a German flag.

A shotgun was found beside the naked woman's body.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted an Abu Sayyaf spokesman as saying: "She tried to shoot us, so we shot her."

The passports of both Mr Kantner and Ms Merz were found on board. An Abu Sayyaf commander has claimed responsibility for the murder and kidnapping.

Mr Kantner was dubbed the "mad German sailor" in the Somali port of Berbera in 2009 after he returned to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden to retrieve his yacht.

"They think that I'm insane, they call me the crazy white guy or the mad German sailor but they don't know how important the boat is to me," he told reporters at the time.

He described his Somali kidnapping as "my worst experience", one day telling his kidnappers: "I hope a plane will bomb us all to bits and then we all die together."

"Why should I go back to Germany where I have nobody to help me?  This is my life and its wonderful," he said. "I have all my things on my boat and I travel to many places in the world. Sailing is how I want to live and die."

Red-footed booby (a bit of light)