- Pirates attacked a cargo ship off Hong Kong in 1999, murdering 23 sailors, then held a party onboard to celebrate
- Caught after police found a photo of the party, 13 pirates were sentenced to death, and went to their executions drunk and sing a Ricky Martin song
A recent SCMP news reveals when pirates held a party after killing sailors on a cargo ship off Hong Kong, and went to their executions drunk and singing Ricky Martin.
Mainland Chinese sailors were murdered
“Pirates partied after killing 23 sailors,” ran a headline in the South China Morning Post dated January 14, 1999. The mainland Chinese sailors were murdered on board a ship “carrying millions of dollars worth of cargo”, the report stated, adding that the pirates “dumped the bodies in the sea and held a party to celebrate the massacre”.
“Mainland police have arrested seven men after reportedly finding a photograph taken by one of the suspects showing the pirates partying on the ship,” the report continued. “The gang used a speedboat to intercept the 28,000-tonne ship, carrying mineral ore, near Hong Kong waters as it sailed from Shanghai to Malaysia on December 26.
“The bodies of six crewmen were recovered in the South China Sea and police are still searching for the bodies of the other 17.”
On December 23, 1999, the Post reported that “a mainland court yesterday sentenced to death 13 members of a pirate gang who slaughtered 23 crewmen on board a Hong Kong-owned freighter”.
Court punishment
On January 29, 2000, a Post report described how the 13 pirates “staggered drunkenly to their deaths yesterday, cursing the Communist Party and singing a Ricky Martin song”.
“The gang […] were taken to the firing squad after having their death sentences confirmed in a Shanwei court. But before they left for the execution grounds, they were locked in the courtroom with relatives, some food and a large amount of rice wine.
“Half an hour later, they emerged unsteadily into bright sunlight strapped up ready for their executions, red in the face, shouting and singing. Six or seven of the pirates burst into a rendition of Ricky Martin’s World Cup 1998 theme song La Copa de la Vida – or The Cup of Life – as they were loaded onto a truck outside the court.
“Yang Jingtao, 25, convicted of murder and robbery, led the singing […] ‘Go, go, go, ole, ole, ole’.
“They were shot by a firing squad a short time later. A source close to the squad said bullets were fired to the head and the heart.”
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Source: SCMP
