Jürgen Gustav Kantner (1946/1947 - 26 February 2017)
was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
sailor who was beheaded by
Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf (; , ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, was a Jihadist militant and piracy, pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It was based in and around Jolo and B ...
in the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
.
On November 5, 2016, Jürgen and his wife Sabine Merz were attacked while sailing off the coast of the Philippines and Malaysia.
During the incident Merz was shot and killed by the gunmen. Kantner was taken as a hostage into the jungles of southern
Sulu province, where Abu Sayyaf is based. On or before 27 February 2017, Kantner was beheaded after a ransom of 30 million pesos ($600,000) was not met.
Previously, in 2008, he and his wife were also taken from their yacht, Rockall, and held captive in
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
by
Al-Shabaab for 52 days before their captors freed them in return for a large ransom. After being returned to Germany, Kantner criticized his rescue, as he believed paying ransoms increased the risk to other sailors of being captured. He 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 captive.
External links
Portion of Kantner's story being told by a fellow sailor
References
2017 deaths
Kidnapped (novel)
German sailors
People executed by decapitation
Filmed executions
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