- COPENHAGEN, Denmark: The father of a Danish yachting family held captive by armed Somali gunmen for more than six months says he wished they never had sailed into the pirate-infested waters off the Horn of Africa.
In the first interview after their release, Jan Quist Johansen says it was “the decision of my life that I regret the most.”
His wife Marie told the Politiken newspaper Thursday they “cried and were afraid many times” but their Somali captors never hit them. They also were able to stay together during the ordeal that ended Sept. 6.
The parents and their three teenage children were captured along with two Danish crew members on Feb. 24 after their yacht was seized by pirates in the Indian Ocean.
Danish officials have refused to comment on whether a ransom was paid.