PARIS – Helicopter-borne French troops swooped in on Somalian pirates yesterday after they freed 30 hostages from a yacht, seizing six of the hijackers and recovering sacks of money – apparently ransom paid by the ship's owners.
The pirates boarded the 288-foot French luxury yacht Le Ponant a week ago, capturing its crew – 22 of whom were French – off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden. Pirates seized more than two dozen vessels off the Somalian coast last year, mostly in hopes of securing ransoms.
Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, the chief of staff of France's armed forces, said the pirates released the hostages after negotiations with the ship's owner. That phase of the operation was calm, with no weapons fired, he said. The hostages were brought smoothly to safely and the pirates went ashore.
Once the pirates were on Somalian territory, a French attack helicopter chased a vehicle carrying some of them, firing to destroy its engine, the general said.
Dahir Abdulqadir, a governor in the Somalian region near where the yacht was held, said officials had heard “reports over VHF radio that at least eight people were killed.” But the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy denied that any pirates died in the raid.
Georgelin said six pirates – out of a dozen hostage-takers – were taken into custody and would be tried in French courts. All six “gave themselves up without too much difficulty,” he added.
While insisting France did not pay a ransom, the general indicated the yacht's owners did. He said: “Check with the ship owner. In capturing the pirates, we also recovered some interesting bags. . . . We recovered part of the ransom that was probably paid.”
The former hostages, including six Filipinos and a Ukrainian, were in good condition, officials said.
