After the French Navy had attacked already on Thursday the small sailing yacht S/Y TANIT the vessel was left limping towards the Somali coast with a shot-up mast and hardly any engine power or fuel. The boat, a Norwegian-made 14.5-meter (47.57-foot) sailing boat with a single mast, was heading far out in the Indian Ocean southwards when it was seized. It had been sea-jacked by a group of around 14 pirates operating from a commandeered Yemeni fishing vessel six days ago. While some of the pirates had earlier left the Tanit on board of the Yemeni ship, 7-8 pirates were observed by several aircraft to be on the yacht during the days after the attention of the French Government was raised concerning this case. Florent and Chloë Lemaçon together with their three year-old son, Colin, were accompanied by two male friends en route to Zanzibar when the armed thugs took them hostage.
The owners of the yacht, Florent and Chloe Lemaçon, had left the French port of Vanves in Brittany in July 2008 on a tour with their three-year-old son, according to their blog .
Two friends had joined them along the way. The first attack by a French navy vessel - reported as F 713 - and two commando boats took place around 47 miles off Ras Hafun at the Indian Ocean coast of North-East Somalia yesterday.
The vessel was thereby "immobilized" as the official statement reads, which is contradicting because later the same statement says that the vessel still moved towards the shore - a fact, which was also confirmed by local observers.
The French President's office declared today evening that French forces then attempted to persuade the pirates to give up their criminal undertaking, but it also admitted that "unfortunately their attempts were unsuccessful". After the second attack Government had to state then that two of the pirates were killed and three arrested, and also confirmed that the owner of the yacht - Florent Lemaçon - was killed in the attack carried out by French navy commandos. Local fishermen reported that they heard sounds from an intense gun battle over a longer time. Four hostages, including a small child, were freed, said French Defense Minister Herve Morin.
Termed as "a break with French government policy", authorities had proposed a ransom but the pirates rejected the offer, Morin said. According to AP, a grim-faced Morin said that "negotiations were leading nowhere, and the boat was approaching the coast." He said French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the order to attack. It came at 3:30 p.m. Paris time (13h30 UTC = 16h30 local time). The second attack then was launched some 20 nautical miles off the coast of
Somalia. The four remaining hostages, including the child, were being taken by French authorities to Djibouti. The whereabouts of the dead and arrested pirates is not known.
The dead hostage was identified as Florent Lemaçon, the owner of the boat, the Tanit, and father of the family, the defence minister confirmed. This is the third time in a year that the French have freed hostages from the hands of pirates in Somalia. While in the first incident - exactly a year ago - the French tourist yacht was freed against a ransom payment and later a French helicopter unit shot up a car on land and captured some people, who allegedly were said to be part of the leaving pirate gang, in the second case a commando-style operation was launched to free a couple from their sailing boat, whereby one pirate was killed and the other six Somalis arrested. All 12 Somalis from these cases were taken to Paris for trial and it was feared that any new hostage case involving French nationals could be used by the captors to press for their repatriation. The case of the Tanit is in line with an observed escalation in response and it is the first time any hostage was killed during a rescue operation. This caused a wave of first disbelief and later shock throughout the maritime world, which tries to curb Somali piracy.
Already when the hi-jacking of the yacht became known, many analysts and Somalis themselves feared that the French would go after the pirates with all fire-power available and so all efforts were made to safeguard a peaceful solution. But to no avail, because France did not respond to proposals made by elders, local leaders and groups.
Florent Lemaçon' words on his blog were: "The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream !" but he did not know that his dream would end in a hail of bullets (most probably) from his own country's forces. Source : ECOTERRA Intl. Image from the blog TANIT
The owners of the yacht, Florent and Chloe Lemaçon, had left the French port of Vanves in Brittany in July 2008 on a tour with their three-year-old son, according to their blog .
Two friends had joined them along the way. The first attack by a French navy vessel - reported as F 713 - and two commando boats took place around 47 miles off Ras Hafun at the Indian Ocean coast of North-East Somalia yesterday.
The vessel was thereby "immobilized" as the official statement reads, which is contradicting because later the same statement says that the vessel still moved towards the shore - a fact, which was also confirmed by local observers.
The French President's office declared today evening that French forces then attempted to persuade the pirates to give up their criminal undertaking, but it also admitted that "unfortunately their attempts were unsuccessful". After the second attack Government had to state then that two of the pirates were killed and three arrested, and also confirmed that the owner of the yacht - Florent Lemaçon - was killed in the attack carried out by French navy commandos. Local fishermen reported that they heard sounds from an intense gun battle over a longer time. Four hostages, including a small child, were freed, said French Defense Minister Herve Morin.
Termed as "a break with French government policy", authorities had proposed a ransom but the pirates rejected the offer, Morin said. According to AP, a grim-faced Morin said that "negotiations were leading nowhere, and the boat was approaching the coast." He said French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the order to attack. It came at 3:30 p.m. Paris time (13h30 UTC = 16h30 local time). The second attack then was launched some 20 nautical miles off the coast of
Somalia. The four remaining hostages, including the child, were being taken by French authorities to Djibouti. The whereabouts of the dead and arrested pirates is not known.
The dead hostage was identified as Florent Lemaçon, the owner of the boat, the Tanit, and father of the family, the defence minister confirmed. This is the third time in a year that the French have freed hostages from the hands of pirates in Somalia. While in the first incident - exactly a year ago - the French tourist yacht was freed against a ransom payment and later a French helicopter unit shot up a car on land and captured some people, who allegedly were said to be part of the leaving pirate gang, in the second case a commando-style operation was launched to free a couple from their sailing boat, whereby one pirate was killed and the other six Somalis arrested. All 12 Somalis from these cases were taken to Paris for trial and it was feared that any new hostage case involving French nationals could be used by the captors to press for their repatriation. The case of the Tanit is in line with an observed escalation in response and it is the first time any hostage was killed during a rescue operation. This caused a wave of first disbelief and later shock throughout the maritime world, which tries to curb Somali piracy.
Already when the hi-jacking of the yacht became known, many analysts and Somalis themselves feared that the French would go after the pirates with all fire-power available and so all efforts were made to safeguard a peaceful solution. But to no avail, because France did not respond to proposals made by elders, local leaders and groups.
Florent Lemaçon' words on his blog were: "The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream !" but he did not know that his dream would end in a hail of bullets (most probably) from his own country's forces. Source : ECOTERRA Intl. Image from the blog TANIT
1 comment:
Não acredito que não seja possivel parar com os ataques dos piratas!
Pobre familia!
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