The pirates are mostly teenagers being used as tools by the real Grade A jerks ashore. No surprise that the kids made a mistake like this.
And odds are the adults who are really behind the hijackings wouldn't care one bit if the teens got shot. Just a "cost of doing business" as far as they're concerned....And for the teens, who've grown up in a failed state without any civilizing influence whatsoever, the whole thing probably looks like a rite of manhood that has a potentially huge payoff.
There's no way that the millions go to the teens, but in a country with an average of $600 per head annual income even if they throw the teenagers a couple hundred bucks it'll look like a massive payoff to them.
Just a messed up world, with no easy answers