Yacht Attacked 400 Miles South West Of Panama

Created by doina. Last modified on 2007-03-23 14:53:53
Contributors:

On April 5, 2004 at approximately 15:00 local time, the sailing yacht Yume Maru, enroute to the Galapagos Islands from Panama, was rammed on the port side by a fishing-type vessel. The yacht's position at the time was reported as 03°20.0'N 084°44.0'W, about 400 nm south-west of Panama. The two people on board the yacht report that there were 7 or 8 men on the fishing boat. Five of these men boarded the yacht armed with knives and handguns. The two people on the yacht were tied up by the men who then removed electronics, charts and maps, navigation equipment, marine VHF and SSB equipment, GPS's, some personal jewellery and ransacked the vessel.

The suspect vessel is described as being a fishing-style boat, approximately 20m long. It was painted with a black top, red bottom and a white cabin. The victims also reported that the part of the fishing boat that struck their boat had blue paint under the red. After the suspect vessel left, the yacht's crew were able to free themselves and make their way back to Panama

Source: Winlink Updates. Further info available on the 14,300 SSB nets.