{"id":161172,"date":"2025-12-01T09:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=161172"},"modified":"2025-12-01T09:46:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T09:46:06","slug":"mystery-after-two-cruisers-discovered-dead-aboard-yacht-in-indian-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/all-latest-posts\/mystery-after-two-cruisers-discovered-dead-aboard-yacht-in-indian-ocean-161172","title":{"rendered":"Mystery after two cruisers discovered dead aboard yacht in Indian Ocean"},"content":"Two sailors have been discovered dead on their yacht, while sailing between Madagascar and Mozambique, off Africa\u2019s south east coast in the Indian Ocean<\/a>.\r\n\r\nThe yacht Acteon<\/em> is a 50-footer registered in France, and was sailing in the Mozambique Channel, around 200 miles north east of Beira, Mozambique.\r\n\r\nThe two sailors have been named as Deirdre Sibly, 67, of Port Lincoln, Australia, and Frenchman Pascal Mahe. Both are understood to be highly experienced cruisers.\r\n\r\nThe pair were sailing to Durban, South Africa from Reunion Island, when a distress call was sent from their yacht on Thursday, 27 November, which was received by a cargo ship in the area that alerted French authorities.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_161178\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Deirdre Sibley, an Australian cruiser reported to have been found dead aboard the yacht she was sailing in the Indian Ocean, in a photo released by her sister Sue Good.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n
<\/div>\r\nSpeaking to The Guardian<\/em> in Australia, Deirdre Sibly\u2019s sister Sue Good said that the cargo ship approached Acteon<\/em> but was unable to board the yacht. Two additional vessels then joined the rescue effort, and crew were able to get aboard.\r\n\r\n\u201cI had a call from [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] at about 10am Friday morning, that\u2019s when they told me someone was able to board the yacht and a man and woman had been found deceased,\u201d Cook confirmed to Guardian Australia<\/em>.\r\n\r\nSpeaking to Australian news broadcaster ABC Adelaide, Good was also quoted as saying: \"We're just devastated; she'd been away sailing with Pascal since early June \u2026 she was so happy.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_161176\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" The yacht Acteon, as identified on the Marine Traffic AIS tracking site. Image Fran Solly\/Marine Traffic[\/caption]\r\n

Piracy speculation<\/h2>\r\nThere has been no official indication of a likely cause of death, though some online reports have speculated that piracy may be involved.\r\n

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it was \u201cproviding consular assistance to the family of an Australian missing in the Mozambique channel\u201d.<\/p>\r\n

A spokesman added: \u201cOur thoughts are with the family at this distressing time.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOwing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.\u201d<\/p>\r\nHistorically there have been numerous incidents of Somali pirates targeting yacht sailors, most high profile of which were the Chandlers, who were kidnapped<\/a> from their yacht near the Seychelles in 2009 and held captive for over a year before being released in 2011. That same year four American sailors were killed<\/a> after being hijacked off the coast of Oman.\r\n\r\nThe\u00a0Gulf of Aden<\/a> has been known to be a high risk area for over two decades, although some yachts do still transit the area \u2013 50-60 yachts are estimated to have crossed the Suez Canal in 2023 and 2024.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_161173\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" The reported location of the yacht Acteon when it issued a distress call on 27 November.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe waters further south were previously thought to be lower risk, though a radical Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique, funded in part by drug smuggling from Afghanistan to East Africa, led to authorities warning of an increased piracy risk in the area from 2020\/21 onwards.\r\n\r\nThe Mozambique Channel is a key shipping route, and also a major oil and gas production area.\r\n\r\nMadagascar and the eastern side of the channel were previously considered safer, though Madagascar has also experienced political upheaval and unrest, with a coup in November 2025.\r\n\r\nThe yacht Acteon<\/em> is understood to still be adrift. We'll report more when we have further information.\r\n\r\n ","excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two sailors have been discovered dead on their yacht, while sailing between Madagascar and Mozambique, off Africa\u2019s south east coast in the Indian Ocean. The yacht Acteon is a 50-footer registered in France, and was sailing in the Mozambique Channel, around 200 miles north east of Beira, Mozambique. The two sailors have been named as Deirdre Sibly, 67, of Port Lincoln, Australia, and Frenchman Pascal Mahe. Both are understood to be highly experienced cruisers. The pair were sailing to Durban, South Africa from Reunion Island, when a distress call was sent from their yacht on Thursday, 27 November, which was received by a cargo ship in the area that alerted French authorities. Speaking to The Guardian in Australia, Deirdre Sibly\u2019s sister Sue Good said that the cargo ship approached Acteon but was unable to board the yacht. Two additional vessels then joined the rescue effort, and crew were able to get aboard. \u201cI had a call from [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] at about 10am Friday morning, that\u2019s when they told me someone was able to board the yacht and a man and woman had been found deceased,\u201d Cook confirmed to Guardian Australia. Speaking to Australian news broadcaster ABC Adelaide, Good was also quoted as saying: “We’re just devastated; she’d been away sailing with Pascal since early June \u2026 she was so happy.\u201d Piracy speculation There has been no official indication of a likely cause of death, though some online reports have speculated that piracy may be involved. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has confirmed it was \u201cproviding consular assistance to the family of an Australian missing in the Mozambique channel\u201d. A spokesman added: \u201cOur thoughts are with the family at this distressing time. \u201cOwing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment.\u201d Historically there have been numerous incidents of Somali pirates targeting yacht sailors, most high profile of which were the Chandlers, who were kidnapped from their yacht near the Seychelles in 2009 and held captive for over a year before being released in 2011. That same year four American sailors were killed after being hijacked off the coast of Oman. The\u00a0Gulf of Aden has been known to be a high risk area for over two decades, although some yachts do still transit the area \u2013 50-60 yachts are estimated to have crossed the Suez Canal in 2023 and 2024. The waters further south were previously thought to be lower risk, though a radical Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique, funded in part by drug smuggling from Afghanistan to East Africa, led to authorities warning of an increased piracy risk in the area from 2020\/21 onwards. The Mozambique Channel is a key shipping route, and also a major oil and gas production area. Madagascar and the eastern side of the channel were previously considered safer, though Madagascar has also experienced political upheaval and unrest, with a coup in November 2025. The yacht Acteon is understood to still be adrift. We’ll report more …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1571,"featured_media":161175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1160,20],"tags":[3080,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161172"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161172"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161184,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161172\/revisions\/161184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161172"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=161172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}