Jürgen Kantner

Jürgen Gustav Kantner (died 27 February 2017)[1] was a German sailor who was beheaded by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines.

On November 5, 2016, Jürgen and his wife Sabine Merz were attacked[1] while sailing off the coast of the Philippines and Malaysia. During the incident Sabine was shot and killed by the gunmen. Likely, when she tried to fight back with their personal armament on board the yacht. Later, Jürgen would be taken as a hostage into the jungles of southern Sulu province, where Abu Sayyaf is based, and eventually executed.

Finally, on or before 27 February 2017, Jürgen was beheaded after a ransom of 30 million pesos ($600,000) was not met.[1][2]

Previously, in 2008, he and his wife were also taken from their yacht, Rockall, and held captive in Somalia by Al-Shabaab for 52 days before their captors freed them in return for a large ransom. After being returned to Germany, Jürgen criticized his rescue, as he believed paying ransoms increased the risk to other sailors of being captured. Jürgen then started planning to recapture his boat back from the Somali pirates who had captured him. He returned by land and air to Somalia, and stole his boat back from the same beach where he was taken to as a captor. [3] Jürgen and Sabine continued to live aboard Rockall and sail for the rest of their lives.



References

  1. 1 2 3 "Philippines militants behead German hostage Jurgen Kantner". The Guardian. 2017-02-27.
  2. ↑ "Philippines recovers body of Germany kidnap victim Jurgen Kantner". The Guardian. 2017-03-05.
  3. ↑ "Formerly kidnapped German 'mad' for returning to Somalia". The Local. 2009-05-19.


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