France - The families of the 22 French crew held hostage aboard Le Ponant have meet in Paris with President Nicolas Sarkozy as France talks to the Le Ponant’s pirates.

According to the Independant World, the Le Ponant "in the hands of the Somali 'marines', a loose network of fishermen-turned-pirates armed with satellite telephones and hand-held missiles."

While the French negotiate, they are also putting French special forces in place, leaving options open for a more forceful operation. The Le Ponant is being tracked from the air by surveillance aircraft, and from the water by battleships.