Pirates have stormed a French luxury yacht off the coast of Somalia and taken its 30-strong crew hostage. The French military said it has forces in the area and is launching an operation to take back the ship and free the captives. Le Ponant was heading from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean Sea when pirates raided it in the Gulf of Aden, which lies between Somalia and Yemen. A spokesman for the boat’s owner, the Compagnie des Iles du Ponant, said there were no holidaymakers on board, and that most of the crew are French or Ukrainian (SkyNews reports). And we found some photos of the yacht with the pirates on board! Have a look! How can this still be happening in the 21st century? (Photos by Reuters)
Yacht Le Ponant. (Photo: Associated Press; French Defence Ministry / Reuters)
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Piracy has been around forever…it’s basically a home invasion on the seas.
Most people aren’t aware that piracy continues to flourish in some parts of the world – wherever there are desperately poor people, and ships sailing by.
This happened at one of the most piracy-prone places in the world. On of the other places is in Indonesia, where pirates in inflatables will race out from behind a small island, storm a freighter, and rob the crew at gunpoint of everything that’s not bolted down. TVs, DVD players, other electronics, and any currency, of course, are prime loot. The U.S. Navy (and others, I believe) continue to maintain anti-piracy patrols in the area with small vessels (destroyers, mostly).