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Kidnap and Ransom (K&R) insurance policies typically indemnify the policyholder for the costs involved in the evacuation or relocation of  insured persons in the event of:

• The insured person being declared "persona non grata" by the recognized government of the host country;
• The wholesale seizure, confiscation or expropriation of property of the named insured;
• Political or military events involving a host country which causes appropriate authority to issue an advisory.

For non-political or medical evacuation, most Travel Accident and Foreign Workers' Compensation policies would respond.

But what happens when an insured person simply goes missing? Or when when one or more insured persons sense a threat to their personal safety although no specific threats (or advisories) have been made against such persons? In our experience, few K&R policies will respond.

Recently, though, we came across two K&R endorsements that offer insureds the prospect of at least conditional coverage in these instances. We also found an endorsement that fits between kidnapping and hijacking creating a new coverage, "Express Kidnapping".

We offer these not as ready-made endorsements but rather to provide endorsement language that a broker could take to a K&R underwriter in an effort to get such language adapted to that underwriter's K&R form.

1. Disappearance Expense Extension Endorsement pays for the cost of investigation and "other relevant expenses" resulting from the disappearance of an insured person, missing for at least 48 hours, with such expenses not to exceed 90 days. Here, $100,000 of such insurance limits are offered. Page 2 of the endorsement is a signature page and is omitted.
2. Evacuation or Repatriation Costs Endorsement appears to be a standard endorsement of this type. However, the definition of "Occurrence" holds the key to an unusual coverage. On the top of Page 2, item 4. "occurrence" is defined to include a request for evacuation based upon the contingencies cited at the top of this post, but without the issuance of an advisory. In other words, if an insured person feels exposed to any of these three contingencies and requests evacuation, such request can be granted by the insurer's K&R consultant. Here, the limits of insurance are modest, but at least the door is now open and limits negotiations can take place between the insured and the insurer.
3. Express Kidnap Extension Endorsement is a variation on both hijacking and kidnapping. The typical hijacking definition is triggered by a holding of an insured person under duress for a period of at least 6 hours while traveling on any aircraft, motor vehicle or waterborne vessel.

Kidnapping is defined to mean the seizing, detaining or carrying away by force or fraud for the purpose of demanding ransom monies.

This endorsement creates a new coverage term, Express Kidnapping, defined as the hijack of an insured person for a period of less than 4 hours while traveling in a motor vehicle. Page 2 of the endorsement is a signature page and it is omitted.