Vessel Hijacking

With the recent vessel hijacking on many people's minds, there have been follow-up stories on what to do in such a crisis where your vessel may be hijacked. As with any stressful situation it is key to know correct crisis management for such occurrences, and although they are rare, Murphy's Law dictates that the more you're prepared, the less likely you will need to use what you have and what you have learned.

So for those of you who have not been keeping up to date with the recent story here is a very, very basic outline of what happened. A couple took a boat out into Somalia waters, they were then captured by Somali pirates and they are now requesting a ransom fee of 7 million pounds. They like to think of themselves as voluntary coast guards, even though their own country does not recognise them as such and also calls them pirates. So if you were traveling in Somali waters what should you do in the event of pirates, or voluntary coast guards, try to hijack your vessel or protect their waters?

Well this is where crisis management is key. If you are in a big ship, then you will need to cover all openings that they could use to get on board (hopefully you have some kind of razor wire or such) and you should speed up your boat in order to outrun them. However, if you are in a small boat then you will, unfortunately need to slow down and allow them to capture you. The simple reason behind this is that you will most likely not be able to out run you and they all usually shoot at you whilst trying to hijack both your vehicle and kidnap you.

In this second case the only thing crisis management can teach you is just to keep your hands raised in the air and simply do what they say. The bright side is, as you have seen in the papers, they do not usually kill you, rather take you in order to ransom you. Whilst you are captured it is important to stay strong, keep your head down and try not to speak or give them any reactions, by doing this they are less likely to try and harm you as they will not see you as a threat.

To refer back to the bigger boats, it is important to make sure you contact the coast guards in order to give them your location and current situation, if your boat has this ability (as some of the less modern ones don't) then you should also attempt to do the same thing. Although it may not get you rescued instantly, it will be more likely that you will be rescued.

Lastly, do not panic, you need to stay calm as they may see your fear response as a sign of hostility and in those cases you will either be badly hurt or killed. Crisis management can teach you the skills you need to survive in almost any situation, from Somali pirates to deciding on the best moves for you business and life.

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