The latest yacht to be hijacked by Somalian pirates is an American Davidson 58 called Quest that until last Tuesday had been part of the Blue Water Rally.

Scott and Jean Adam from California have been sailing round the world since December 2004 in their pilot house sloop, distributing Bibles to schools and churches in remote destinations en route.

They joined the rally in Phuket, Thailand before Christmas, but after stops in Galle, Sri Lanka and Cochin, India, they decided to sail to Salalah, Oman independently.

Joining them on board were fellow Americans Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle, but they were captured in the Arabian Sea south of Oman on Friday and arrived in Somalia yesterday.

The kidnapping came two days after a Somali pirate was sentenced to 33 years in prison by an American court after hijacking a tanker and another pirate warned that Americans would be targeted in retaliation.

After spending the summer in the Mediterranean, the couple were planning to come to London later in the year and had booked a berth in St Katherine’s Dock on October 15.

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