Death on the high seas as pirates put to the sword
A daring French commando raid brought a five-day hostage crisis to a bloody end
Matthew Campbell in Paris (From the Times)
PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the rescue mission off the Somali coast that ended in tragedy when a young French yachtsman was killed as commandos stormed a vessel being held by pirates, releasing his wife and three-year-old son.
For the first time yesterday, details emerged of an extraordinary rescue operation piloted from the Elysée Palace. It involved three French warships, a German frigate and the airdrop of dozens of French commandos some 400 miles off the African coast.
After two successful armed assaults to save citizens from yachts in the same waters last year, Sarkozy’s luck appears to have run out. Florent Lemaçon, a 28-year-old computer programmer from Brittany, was shot dead as his wife, their son and two friends were rescued from their yacht.
The drama, in which two pirates were killed and three taken prisoner, is certain to raise questions about the muscular approach adopted by “Sarko”, the “omnipresident” who relishes the role of commander-in-chief. It may also give pause to America’s military, which was threatening action yesterday against pirates holding a US captain who had thwarted their efforts to hijack his container ship.
Hervé Morin, the French defence minister, said yesterday that he could not rule out the possibility that Lemaçon, described by friends as an “idealist” intent on escaping the rat race, was killed by a French bullet as commandos boarded his yacht, the Tanit. The 36ft craft had been heading towards the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was seized by pirates on April 4, 400 miles off Ras Hafun in northeastern Somalia.
It emerged yesterday that Sarkozy had dispatched 50 commandos from France to a French base at Djibouti, on the “horn” of Africa, on Thursday, in readiness for the assault.
Joined locally by 20 more commandos, they parachuted from a Hercules plane into the sea, to be picked up by three French warships that had been tracking the pirates, together with a German frigate equipped with hospital facilities.
Somali-speaking intelligence operatives had joined negotiations with the pirates on Wednesday, but found them “intransigent”.
On Thursday shots were fired at the Tanit to disable its sails: the French were determined to prevent the craft, whose engine was not working, from reaching the shore, a pirate haven where dozens of hostages from other vessels have been held for ransom and from where it would have been almost impossible to launch a rescue.
Sarkozy, who throughout the negotiations held regular meetings with his generals in the Elysée, ordered the rescue mission on Friday morning when the Tanit, which had continued drifting towards shore after its sails were destroyed, was only 20 miles from the coast. It was feared the hostages might be taken ashore that night by a pirate speedboat.
The defence ministry said the pirates had refused a French offer to transport them ashore and had turned down a ransom – the amount was not specified. The pirates had also dismissed an offer of exchanging the mother and child for a French soldier. Instead, they were overheard discussing using explosives to blow up the yacht.
After Sarkozy had given his order there was a delay in executing it. “We waited until three of the five pirates appeared on the deck,” General Jean-Louis Georgelin, the army chief of staff, told Le Journal du Dimanche, the French newspaper.
French snipers opened fire, instantly killing two of the pirates. Another was said to have fallen overboard. Some 60 commandos then boarded Zodiac dinghies and approached the yacht. Only eight went aboard, guns at the ready.
Chloé, Lemaçon’s wife, and Colin, their three-year-old son, were rescued from a cabin in the stern of the craft. Dorian Pierre and Steven Ménoret, friends of the Lemaçons, were rescued from a cabin in the bow.
The two remaining pirates were hiding below deck where Lemaçon, the captain, was being held separately from the others. They began to fire their Kalashnikov assault rifles up through the deck, prompting return fire from the French troops preparing to rush down the companionway.
The pirates were quickly overpowered. The mission had taken only six minutes.
The survivors are being flown to Paris today aboard an aircraft chartered by the defence ministry. They will be invited to a meeting in the Elysée with Sarkozy. He has offered his condolences for the death of Lemaçon.
“Sadly, a hostage died,” said a statement from Sarkozy’s office. It emphasised the president’s “determination not to give in to blackmail and to defeat the pirates”.
An autopsy was being conducted as well as an official investigation to determine whether Lemaçon had been killed by French troops or by his captors.
“A zero-risk operation of this nature does not exist,” said Morin, who called the assault the “most feasible solution”.
He went on: “I think it was the best decision possible, the pirates absolutely wanted to take the hostages to the Somalian coast and as soon as that happened we would no longer be able to assure control of them or assure their security.”
Whoever was to blame, the death is likely to stir up emotions in France: the family’s travels from their native Brittany had been followed by many on an internet website. It described their endless difficulties in renovating an old boat on a limited budget.
They set off from Vannes on the Brittany coast in July last year, chronicling their leisurely path down the Spanish coast and into the Mediterranean. They were plagued by repeated mechanical mishaps, including the failure of their engine, but called it a “dream” voyage “to escape consumer society”.
They wanted to visit Kenya and the “spice island” of Zanzibar off the Tanzanian coast. They had also spoken of travelling on to the Seychelles.
In Egypt, while crossing the Suez Canal, they happened to bump into a French couple whose yacht, the 50ft Carré d’As, had been seized during September 2008 by pirates who had demanded a ransom of ¤1m (then £800,000). The couple were freed in a daring rescue mission by French frogmen in which one pirate was killed and six were captured. No ransom was paid.
Sarkozy had also ordered an assault to free the 30 crew members — including 22 French citizens — of the Ponant, a 289ft luxury yacht which had been seized the previous April with no passengers on board.
In that operation, French troops later captured six of the 12 pirates after pursuing them ashore in helicopters and recovered some of the $2m (then £1m) ransom. All the captured pirates have been taken to Paris where they are awaiting trial. The latest three to be captured will soon join them.
The Lemaçons were not to be deterred by the risks. In their blog they described the other couple’s account of being held hostage as “impressive” but also “reassuring” because it was clear to them that the pirates were motivated more by money than any interest in harming westerners.
“The danger exists,” Lemaçon wrote in his blog, “and it has probably grown in the course of these past few months, but the ocean is vast. The pirates must not be allowed to annihilate our dream.”
Two friends came out to join them in Yemen as “reinforcements” for the dangerous part of the journey. Lemaçon was in regular contact with French naval vessels as they approached the Gulf of Aden.
According to the defence ministry, the Tanit was warned, in no uncertain terms, to stay away from the region. “They were told that it would be reckless in the extreme to attempt the trip down to Kenya,” said a defence ministry spokesman. “They were told that the threat from pirates was greater than ever. Frankly, it is baffling to us that the warnings were not heeded.”
Lemaçon’s father has denied that any such warnings were given. He says his son was an experienced sailor who had mentioned “friendly contacts” with the captain of the Floréal, a French frigate taking part in the European Union’s anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden.
He says the advice from the navy was simply to avoid the shipping lanes and to stay far out to sea. In his last entry in the blog, Lemaçon says another safety measure they had decided upon was to turn off all lights at night. But such precautions have failed to save even the biggest freighters from the ransom hunters in Somali waters.
Among the pirates’ prize catches last year were a Saudi supertanker carrying 2m barrels of oil and a Ukrainian ship laden with 33 tanks.
The pirates had started off as fishermen. But taking advantage of the anarchy that has plagued Somalia ever since warlords toppled Mohamed Siad Barre, the former dictator, in 1991, they have run rings around the European warships plying the Gulf of Aden in a bid to protect shipping.
The pirates, who use grappling hooks to clamber their way onto the decks of cargo ships, hold some 250 hostages, including 92 Filipinos, from 16 vessels. Most are detained in the pirate lair of Puntland in northeastern Somalia.
There was sadness yesterday in Vannes. François Goulard, the mayor, said “there was something idealistic about that couple”, adding that he had been “devastated” by the news of Lemaçon’s death: “I knew that an intervention was possible but I never expected it to end like this.”
“He was a serious sailor who carefully prepared his trip,” said Michel Petit, president of the local sailing club. “He and his wife were truly passionate about the sea and about their project. It is very sad.”
- Pirates seized a US-owned tugboat, the MV Buccaneer, with a crew including 10 Italians yesterday in the Gulf of Aden.
A daring French commando raid brought a five-day hostage crisis to a bloody end
Matthew Campbell in Paris (From the Times)
PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the rescue mission off the Somali coast that ended in tragedy when a young French yachtsman was killed as commandos stormed a vessel being held by pirates, releasing his wife and three-year-old son.
For the first time yesterday, details emerged of an extraordinary rescue operation piloted from the Elysée Palace. It involved three French warships, a German frigate and the airdrop of dozens of French commandos some 400 miles off the African coast.
After two successful armed assaults to save citizens from yachts in the same waters last year, Sarkozy’s luck appears to have run out. Florent Lemaçon, a 28-year-old computer programmer from Brittany, was shot dead as his wife, their son and two friends were rescued from their yacht.
The drama, in which two pirates were killed and three taken prisoner, is certain to raise questions about the muscular approach adopted by “Sarko”, the “omnipresident” who relishes the role of commander-in-chief. It may also give pause to America’s military, which was threatening action yesterday against pirates holding a US captain who had thwarted their efforts to hijack his container ship.
Hervé Morin, the French defence minister, said yesterday that he could not rule out the possibility that Lemaçon, described by friends as an “idealist” intent on escaping the rat race, was killed by a French bullet as commandos boarded his yacht, the Tanit. The 36ft craft had been heading towards the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was seized by pirates on April 4, 400 miles off Ras Hafun in northeastern Somalia.
It emerged yesterday that Sarkozy had dispatched 50 commandos from France to a French base at Djibouti, on the “horn” of Africa, on Thursday, in readiness for the assault.
Joined locally by 20 more commandos, they parachuted from a Hercules plane into the sea, to be picked up by three French warships that had been tracking the pirates, together with a German frigate equipped with hospital facilities.
Somali-speaking intelligence operatives had joined negotiations with the pirates on Wednesday, but found them “intransigent”.
On Thursday shots were fired at the Tanit to disable its sails: the French were determined to prevent the craft, whose engine was not working, from reaching the shore, a pirate haven where dozens of hostages from other vessels have been held for ransom and from where it would have been almost impossible to launch a rescue.
Sarkozy, who throughout the negotiations held regular meetings with his generals in the Elysée, ordered the rescue mission on Friday morning when the Tanit, which had continued drifting towards shore after its sails were destroyed, was only 20 miles from the coast. It was feared the hostages might be taken ashore that night by a pirate speedboat.
The defence ministry said the pirates had refused a French offer to transport them ashore and had turned down a ransom – the amount was not specified. The pirates had also dismissed an offer of exchanging the mother and child for a French soldier. Instead, they were overheard discussing using explosives to blow up the yacht.
After Sarkozy had given his order there was a delay in executing it. “We waited until three of the five pirates appeared on the deck,” General Jean-Louis Georgelin, the army chief of staff, told Le Journal du Dimanche, the French newspaper.
French snipers opened fire, instantly killing two of the pirates. Another was said to have fallen overboard. Some 60 commandos then boarded Zodiac dinghies and approached the yacht. Only eight went aboard, guns at the ready.
Chloé, Lemaçon’s wife, and Colin, their three-year-old son, were rescued from a cabin in the stern of the craft. Dorian Pierre and Steven Ménoret, friends of the Lemaçons, were rescued from a cabin in the bow.
The two remaining pirates were hiding below deck where Lemaçon, the captain, was being held separately from the others. They began to fire their Kalashnikov assault rifles up through the deck, prompting return fire from the French troops preparing to rush down the companionway.
The pirates were quickly overpowered. The mission had taken only six minutes.
The survivors are being flown to Paris today aboard an aircraft chartered by the defence ministry. They will be invited to a meeting in the Elysée with Sarkozy. He has offered his condolences for the death of Lemaçon.
“Sadly, a hostage died,” said a statement from Sarkozy’s office. It emphasised the president’s “determination not to give in to blackmail and to defeat the pirates”.
An autopsy was being conducted as well as an official investigation to determine whether Lemaçon had been killed by French troops or by his captors.
“A zero-risk operation of this nature does not exist,” said Morin, who called the assault the “most feasible solution”.
He went on: “I think it was the best decision possible, the pirates absolutely wanted to take the hostages to the Somalian coast and as soon as that happened we would no longer be able to assure control of them or assure their security.”
Whoever was to blame, the death is likely to stir up emotions in France: the family’s travels from their native Brittany had been followed by many on an internet website. It described their endless difficulties in renovating an old boat on a limited budget.
They set off from Vannes on the Brittany coast in July last year, chronicling their leisurely path down the Spanish coast and into the Mediterranean. They were plagued by repeated mechanical mishaps, including the failure of their engine, but called it a “dream” voyage “to escape consumer society”.
They wanted to visit Kenya and the “spice island” of Zanzibar off the Tanzanian coast. They had also spoken of travelling on to the Seychelles.
In Egypt, while crossing the Suez Canal, they happened to bump into a French couple whose yacht, the 50ft Carré d’As, had been seized during September 2008 by pirates who had demanded a ransom of ¤1m (then £800,000). The couple were freed in a daring rescue mission by French frogmen in which one pirate was killed and six were captured. No ransom was paid.
Sarkozy had also ordered an assault to free the 30 crew members — including 22 French citizens — of the Ponant, a 289ft luxury yacht which had been seized the previous April with no passengers on board.
In that operation, French troops later captured six of the 12 pirates after pursuing them ashore in helicopters and recovered some of the $2m (then £1m) ransom. All the captured pirates have been taken to Paris where they are awaiting trial. The latest three to be captured will soon join them.
The Lemaçons were not to be deterred by the risks. In their blog they described the other couple’s account of being held hostage as “impressive” but also “reassuring” because it was clear to them that the pirates were motivated more by money than any interest in harming westerners.
“The danger exists,” Lemaçon wrote in his blog, “and it has probably grown in the course of these past few months, but the ocean is vast. The pirates must not be allowed to annihilate our dream.”
Two friends came out to join them in Yemen as “reinforcements” for the dangerous part of the journey. Lemaçon was in regular contact with French naval vessels as they approached the Gulf of Aden.
According to the defence ministry, the Tanit was warned, in no uncertain terms, to stay away from the region. “They were told that it would be reckless in the extreme to attempt the trip down to Kenya,” said a defence ministry spokesman. “They were told that the threat from pirates was greater than ever. Frankly, it is baffling to us that the warnings were not heeded.”
Lemaçon’s father has denied that any such warnings were given. He says his son was an experienced sailor who had mentioned “friendly contacts” with the captain of the Floréal, a French frigate taking part in the European Union’s anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden.
He says the advice from the navy was simply to avoid the shipping lanes and to stay far out to sea. In his last entry in the blog, Lemaçon says another safety measure they had decided upon was to turn off all lights at night. But such precautions have failed to save even the biggest freighters from the ransom hunters in Somali waters.
Among the pirates’ prize catches last year were a Saudi supertanker carrying 2m barrels of oil and a Ukrainian ship laden with 33 tanks.
The pirates had started off as fishermen. But taking advantage of the anarchy that has plagued Somalia ever since warlords toppled Mohamed Siad Barre, the former dictator, in 1991, they have run rings around the European warships plying the Gulf of Aden in a bid to protect shipping.
The pirates, who use grappling hooks to clamber their way onto the decks of cargo ships, hold some 250 hostages, including 92 Filipinos, from 16 vessels. Most are detained in the pirate lair of Puntland in northeastern Somalia.
There was sadness yesterday in Vannes. François Goulard, the mayor, said “there was something idealistic about that couple”, adding that he had been “devastated” by the news of Lemaçon’s death: “I knew that an intervention was possible but I never expected it to end like this.”
“He was a serious sailor who carefully prepared his trip,” said Michel Petit, president of the local sailing club. “He and his wife were truly passionate about the sea and about their project. It is very sad.”
- Pirates seized a US-owned tugboat, the MV Buccaneer, with a crew including 10 Italians yesterday in the Gulf of Aden.
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