hostages

Somalia - Jean-Yves Delanne, a french citizen being kept hostage by pirates in Somalia, has spoken with his daughter Alizée Delanne in Tahiti via satellite phone, telling her "Nous allons bien" - "We are well".  Alizée Delanne first learned of the trouble with her parents, who were sailing a yacht near the Gulf of Aden, when she received a call that the EPIRB (a safety device) had been triggered on the boat.  The Tahiti resident tried frantically to reach her parents via satellite telephone, to no avail.  When she finally got through to her father to ask why the ale

Somalia - A sailing yacht was seized by pirates yesterday in the Gulf of Aden. The Venezuelan-flagged Carre D'as is reported to have been attacked at sea, captured, and the boat and hostages taken to Somalia. The only reported hostages so far are two French nationals, whose names have not been released. Clearly in Somalia, yachts are now fair game for pirates.

Puntland, Somalia - With as many as 100 mariners currently held captive inside the country, and ransoms reaching millions of dollars, piracy has become big business in Somalia. It's no longer only commercial ships at risk, as criminals have begun targeting private yachts in the hope of a ransom pay-off - the profit is not in the ship, but in the crew. The value of human life in war-torn Somalia is cheap, the piracy risks low, and the payout enormous. Without any form of real government, little industry, and a wrecked economy, it appears Somalia is becoming a pirate state.

Jama Hirsi Farah, Puntland's state minister for security told the press Wednesday that Somali pirates have demanded $1 million for the release of the German couple, their young son and a French captain who were taken captive by pirates on Monday off the coast of Somalia. A clan elder who is helping to negotiate with the pirates

Six of the Somali pirates, who captured the French yacht Le Ponant and held its 30 crew hostage last week, have told a French judicial source that they were part of a maritime militia group with a written code of conduct. Said the source to AFP: "We are in the presence of a sea militia, a gang which has a leader, is given shelter by villagers who feed them and supply them with khat" (a stimulant).

See Updates at the bottom of this page about the Le Ponant hostages release, and news about the Le Ponant crew and the Somalian pirates from April 14 to April 16 2008.

Click here to read all news articles about the Le Ponant pirate attack.

April 14 2008