8th Somali guilty plea entered in piracy trial

May 25, 2011 at 1:27p.m.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — An eighth Somali man has pleaded guilty to piracy for his role in the hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead.

Muhidin Salad Omar pleaded guilty in federal court in Norfolk on Wednesday.

He is among 14 people from Somalia and one from Yemen facing charges related to the February hijacking of the yacht Quest.

The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death after being taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman.

Omar faces a life sentence, although that could be reduced as part of a plea agreement.