Sahara hostages asked to pay up

[Grammatron]

From the article :

German tourists taken hostage in the Sahara desert this year have been told to pay for being rescued.

I think this is very wrong. For a country as rich as Germany to ask for rescue pay is ridicules. What's next, are they only going to rescue rich people?

 

[Tricky]

From the article :

I think this is very wrong. For a country as rich as Germany to ask for rescue pay is ridicules. What's next, are they only going to rescue rich people?

Apparently the money was money that was payed in ransom. Perhaps the German government thought it shouldn't have had to rescue them since...

It has been suggested that the groups should have informed the authorities of their planned route before setting off, and should have travelled with guides.

However, if they are going to make them pay back the ransom money, they ought to at least reverse this position...

The German Government has already warned the hostages not to seek to sell their stories for profit.

 

[Tmy]

Havent read the article but I imagine its similarto these idiots who climb mountains or balloon around the world.

If you knowingly put yourself in highly dangerous situations just for adreniline kicks, I see no problem with charging people if you have to bail them out.

 

[Nikk]

Havent read the article but I imagine its similarto these idiots who climb mountains or balloon around the world.

If you knowingly put yourself in highly dangerous situations just for adreniline kicks, I see no problem with charging people if you have to bail them out.

This is not similar to cases where someone knowingly engages in a dangerous sport. These people were victims of a crime.

A more interesting question is should the German Government have bailed them out? Usually only those known to be rich are kidnapped. If word gets around that every tourist is a potential goldmine the risks for every tourist in the third world increase.

 

[aerocontrols]

A more interesting question is should the German Government have bailed them out? Usually only those known to be rich are kidnapped. If word gets around that every tourist is a potential goldmine the risks for every tourist in the third world increase.

Every European tourist is a potential goldmine, you mean.

I can't imagine what these governments were thinking, but I imagine they'll be rethinking it in the near future.

MattJ

 

[jan]

To put things in perspective, the former hostages are asked to pay a comparatively small recompensation (between 1k€ and 2k€ per person, depending on whether they have the money), while flying the hostages back to Germany alone did cause costs higher than 200k€ (not to mention the ransom itself, the gifts for the local authorities, and so on), so I would say it is more a symbolic act.

I wouldn't call this behaviour of the German government evil, I would call it ludicrous.