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Hostages Released

Somali Pirates Free French Yacht

The hostages aboard a French vacation yacht off the coast of Somalia have been released. French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced their rescue on Friday, thanking organizations who helped free the 30 hostages from pirates.

AFP

Le Ponant: The yacht's 30 crew members were released today, after being hijacked by pirates last week.

In a statement, Sarkozy thanked the French army and other agencies "that allowed a quick end" to the hostage situation. The statement did not elaborate on the role of the French military, but said the hostages were freed "without incident."

The statement did not say when the hostages were released or where they were.

About 10 pirates stormed the yacht, called Le Ponant, in the Gulf of Aden on April 4 as it was returning without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea. The 88-meter (288-foot) boat that can hold up to 64 passengers but when captured it was only carrying 30 crew members, including 22 French citizens -- six of them women -- and six Filipinos.

The pirates guided the yacht down Somalia's eastern coast. France sent elite commando troops to the region earlier this week to bolster efforts to free the captives, and a French frigate was diverted from its NATO duties and tracked the yacht. A French plane was also dispatched from a French base in Djibouti to fly over the boat, military officials said.

French officials would not comment Friday on how the hostages were released.

The Foreign Ministry informed the Philippine Embassy in Paris that the hostages were taken to the French base in Djibouti and will be flown to Paris within days, Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Esteban Conejos told the Associated Press.

"They are in good physical condition. ... All of them are safe and sound," he said in Manila, adding that the yacht also "was turned over safe." He said the Philippine government had no role in the release of the hostages.

Sarkozy will meet the families of the former captives in Paris on Friday afternoon.

Pirates seized more than two dozen ships off Somalia's coast last year.

The US Navy has led international patrols to try to combat piracy in the region, but an increase in naval patrols has coincided with a rash of kidnappings of foreigners on land. Somalia has been wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy and does not have its own navy. A transitional government formed in 2004 with UN help has struggled to assert control.

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