Hot Topic (2/2): Should pirates be paid a ransom?
Pirate Couple Begs for Help
“They are not treating us well….we don’t have much time left.” Those are the words of Rachel Chandler. She and her husband have now been held by pirates in Somalia for over three months since their yacht was seized in October.
In an exclusive video obtained by sister network Sky News the two are heard begging for help. “I want to just say please to my government, get me and my wife out of here,” Paul Chandler said.
A doctor who examined the couple found them not well. Rachel especially said to be physically and mentally ailing. The two are being held separately by the pirates but were allowed to be together in recent days on the advice of the doctor according to Sky.
A spokesman for the UK Foreign office claims it is doing “…everything we can to secure their release” but is refusing to pay any ransom.
Nick Davis of the Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre tells Fox News that the government is “not talking to the pirates.”
He claims that he spoke with the pirates and could’ve gotten the couple released for $200,000 last Fall. The latest ransom demand is reportedly $2 million. The problem, as Davis noted, is the couple does not have a large shipping or insurance company behind them. “The (pirates) want someone to organize a release,” he said.
* * *
Should the UK government intervene in this situation?
Should ransoms be paid to pirates/kidnappers?
What do you think about this?
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No, I really don't think a government should ever pay a ransom to anyone. It would get way out of controll. However, I do think that the citizens of that country should donate to help them. That way they could say it was a private party who paid the ransom. Don't these people have family? I know I don't have that much money to dish out, but if it meant saving my family member's life, I'd take out loans, do whatever I have to do. It's a very sad situation. I hope someone helps them and they return home safely.
Mrs. Khan
no they should not pay them dosnt mean they will let these ppl go anyway giving them money will make them think they can get away with it and more and more will follow suit .they dont need to be funding terrorists
nobody should pay them b/c eventually the pirates will realize they wont get any money and they will stop
Quoting steph2884:
Why pay these idiots money to help them stay pirates? This couple should have known better to take their luxury trip in hostile waters. Not like they were taken over in the Carribean by Jack Sparrow... The UK should follow in the steps of the US... just shoot them.
The pirates.. not the couple...
lol i agree
Quoting steph2884:
Quoting steph2884:
Why pay these idiots money to help them stay pirates? This couple should have known better to take their luxury trip in hostile waters. Not like they were taken over in the Carribean by Jack Sparrow... The UK should follow in the steps of the US... just shoot them.
The pirates.. not the couple...
No don't pay them, but where's the couple's family? You'd think they would try o.O
I don't think you can pay pirates. If you do, it encourages them to kidnap again, and again, and again. As far as this couple goes... wow. I don't have an answer for how to get them out. I just know that you cannot pay pirates.
Quoting ThatTXMom:I don't think you can pay pirates. If you do, it encourages them to kidnap again, and again, and again. As far as this couple goes... wow. I don't have an answer for how to get them out. I just know that you cannot pay pirates.
I personally feel you should only give money to the pirates with eye patches and peg legs, they need it more
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on Feb. 2, 2010 at 1:36 AM