February 22, 2011 | 2:14 pm

Somalian pirates murder American missionary sailors

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Sad news today from the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia: The four Americans who had been taken hostage while sailing around the world handing out Bibles were murdered by their pirate captors. Here’s the story from the Los Angeles Times:

Four U.S. Navy ships had been shadowing the couple’s yacht after it was taken over by the pirates last week off the coast of Oman. Pirates had said it was headed to Somalia.  While negotiations were underway to gain the release of the Americans, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the Quest. The four Americans had been shot.

According to the U.S. military, the Enterprise is now off the Horn of Africa.

For nearly a decade, Scott and Jean Adam’s home had been the 58-foot custom-made sloop the Quest. Although they docked every so often in Marina del Rey to pick up mail and see friends, the couple spent most of their time sailing to far-flung locales such as the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti and New Zealand.

Posting photos and information on their website, they raved about their travels aboard the Quest. “We’ve decided to ... explore Fiji like petals on a flower,” they wrote about their 2007 trip to the South Pacific.

Now, “This is all of our worst nightmares,” said Scott Stolnitz, a friend of the couple.

NPR’s news blog has a good round-up of the story. And Mollie at GetReligion has a critique of the earlier coverage of the Adams and friends being taken hostage.