Fourteen men accused of seizing a yacht and killing its American crew last month in the Arabian Sea were indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Norfolk, Va., on piracy and kidnapping charges. If convicted of piracy, they face a mandatory life sentence.

The men—13 Somalis and one Yemeni—were captured by U.S. Navy Seals who stormed the 58-foot Quest four days after it was hijacked while sailing from India to Oman. Navy officers negotiated for the release of the American sailors. The four were killed before the assault force could storm the ship.

The men were indicted on one count of piracy, one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and one count of the use of a firearm during a crime of violence. They weren’t charged with murder, but the indictment stated that “at least three of the defendants on board the Quest intentionally shot and killed” the U.S. citizens.

U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said the investigation would continue and that “additional future charges are possible.” He noted that the other charges include hefty sentences: up to life in prison for kidnapping and a minimum of 30 years for the weapons charges.

The American sailors—Scott and Jean Adam, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle—were completing an around-the-world voyage, and just days before the attack had separated from a group of fellow sailors to chart their own course toward Oman. The Adams owned the yacht.

The alleged pirates appeared in court Thursday afternoon to hear the charges. A detention hearing will be held in about one week, and a trial could begin this summer. The men are being held in Norfolk pending the detention hearing.

Pirates operating out of Somalia are threatening an ever-wider swath of the Indian Ocean and causing increasing concern, with the Quest case marking a worrisome eruption of murderous violence in Somali piracy. Until now, pirates have abstained from killing hostages who can bring multimillion-dollar ransoms.

Last week, pirates unsuccessfully attacked a chemical tanker and a container ship, according to the bureau. In addition, the Maersk Alabama—the cargo ship famously attacked in April 2009, whose American captain was taken hostage and later rescued from a lifeboat by Navy Seal snipers—was attacked this week for the third time in two years. It was approached by a suspicious skiff, chased away with warning shots.

Current and former naval officers note that the international task forces operating in the Indian Ocean have to cover an area three times the size of the Gulf of Mexico with about 30 ships.

And battling pirates in the courtroom is tough for most attacks in the Indian Ocean. Few countries in the region are willing and able to prosecute pirates. Western countries whose warships patrol the area are loath to prosecute without an abundance of evidence, often hard to gather when pirates disguise themselves as fishermen. Numerous European and American warships have caught and released pirates for lack of evidence in recent years.

“It’s the problem of the dog catching the car: What do you do when you catch the pirates?” said Terrence McKnight, a retired U.S. admiral who set up the first international anti-piracy task force in the Indian Ocean in 2007. Mr. McKnight proposes increasing aerial surveillance and naval patrols closer to the Somali region of Puntland, from which most pirate skiffs depart.

“We’re just waiting and reacting, instead of being proactive,” he said.

Write to Keith Johnson at

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