| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caribbean-Latin America |
| 15 Israelis taken hostage on Caribbean island |
| 2008-10-16 |
| Fifteen Israeli professionals were taken hostage this week by Chinese laborers on the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean Sea. The Foreign Ministry said Thursday it were working to ensure that the professionals, who have been in captivity for three days, would be released soon. The captives are all managers and engineers employed by the real estate company, Ashtroom. They were taken hostage by Chinese laborers who had been working for them on the island. The kidnappers are demanding payment promised to them by their employers. They claim that they have not yet been paid for their work because the bank funding their project collapsed. The Foreign Ministry said it was receiving constant updates and hoped the crisis would be over within hours. The small island on which the professionals were taken hostage is relatively isolated and can be reached only by boat. The hostages said their captors have blocked off the marina, in effect neutralizing the only entry point on the island. more... An Israeli working in the area told Ynet that the Israelis were taken hostage after the project was canceled, due to bank collapse. The Chinese workers, who were informed they would be deported, are holding the Israelis for ransom. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #7 Nine of 15 Israeli project supervisors, trapped on an isolated Caribbean island by disgruntled Chinese construction workers who are owed wages, were released Thursday night, bringing a highly unusual labor dispute close to conclusion. The Foreign Ministry said negotiations for the release of the remaining six Israelis were still under way between local police and the Chinese workers. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-10-16 19:02 |
| #6 Maybe the Chinese could open up for bids. How much would Hamas or Hezbollah pay for 15 Israelis? You have to admit that it would be a very fast way to get the Israelis to cough up the money, unless they decided to kill the Chinese first. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-10-16 14:23 |
| #5 I'd like to welcome both the Israelis and the Chinese to the Brave New World of Low-Trust Societies. Hopefully neither of these groups of people are cousins of mine and I won't have to care. |
| Posted by: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti 2008-10-16 12:11 |
| #4 Pay 'em. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-10-16 11:50 |
| #3 Pay the workers! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-10-16 11:38 |
| #2 The hostages said their captors have blocked off the marina, in effect neutralizing the only entry point on the island. What is the Chinese word for "heliborne assault"? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-10-16 11:21 |
| #1 According to the Foreign Ministry, the Chinese group was working under the Israeli supervisors building a vacation resort for a construction company called Ashtrom, which discontinued its project on the island as a result of the financial meltdown. Apparently, the workers were dismissed after the collapse of Lehman Bros. Investors Bank in the United States. When the workers were told to go home they each demanded a sum of $15,000, which they had paid contractors in China in order to take part in the project. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-10-16 11:06 |