re: #536 Racer X

The French just mounted a hostage rescue operation on a yacht that had been taken by pirates.

April 12 2009 at 06:35PM

Paris - Four freed hostages, including the widow and three-year-old son of a French skipper killed in a special forces shootout with Somali pirates, arrived home on Sunday in a state of shock.

Defence Minister Herve Morin welcomed Chloe Lemacon, her son Colin and two friends also taken hostage on the yacht, at a military airport near Paris where they touched down on a French-chartered aircraft at 5:00 pm (1500 GMT).

The yacht’s owner, 28-year-old Florent Lemacon, was killed when commandos stormed on board the Tanit on Friday, six days after it was seized in one of the latest of a rash of pirate attacks off east Africa.

Two pirates were shot dead as commandos stormed the yacht, while three others were taken prisoner.

Morin has said he “cannot rule out” that Lemacon was killed by French fire, saying a inquiry would determine what happened on board the Tanit.

It was not immediately known if his body was on the plane, or if it would be repatriated separately.

Chloe and Florent Lemacon left France’s Brittany region in July last year with their son, then two years old, aboard the 12.5m yacht, picking up two travelling companions along the way.

The Lemacons were headed for Zanzibar, having decided to cross the pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast to fulfil a travellers’ dream despite concerns for their safety.

They were around 640km off Ras Hafun in northeast Somalia when they were captured on April 4.

According to an armed forces spokesperson, Lemacon was shot in the head as French commandos traded fire with two Kalashnikov-wielding pirates who were sheltering inside the yacht cabin.

The defence ministry said he was trying to shield his wife and child with a mattress as bullets flew around the boat.

Morin has defended the commando operation saying Paris did all it could to save the child’s life, including offering to pay an unspecified ransom or for a French officer to trade places with the mother and son.

He said French forces launched their assault to stop the hostage-takers from reaching their base on the Somali coast, which was no more than 30km away.

Francis Lemacon, the skipper’s father, issued a statement paying tribute to his son and thanking the French state and the soldiers “who risked their lives” to rescue the hostages.

“We have lost more than a son. We are crushed by grief,” he wrote in a statement.

“Florent and his wife, with Colin on the Tanit, chose a lifestyle. In their own way, they fought for their beliefs: in peace, ecology, tolerance and the right to live differently, solidarity and the value of sharing,” he said.

“With his moral sense, a pacifist is dead. With his love for Africa and Africans, a traveller is dead. With his rejection of comfort, of the world of money, a dreamer is dead.

“With his passion for, and knowledge of the ocean, a sailor is dead. With his taste for freedom, a philosopher and musician is dead.”

Writing on their Internet blog two weeks before the hijacking, the Lemacons said they had started sailing with the lights off to avoid detection.

“We are in the middle of the piracy zone, but so far there is nothing to report. The danger is there and has indeed become greater over the past months, but the ocean is vast. The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream,” they wrote.

The French military launched a rescue operation to free a luxury yacht, Le Ponant, and its 30 crew in April last year, and in September sent commandos to release a French couple seized by pirates aboard their yacht.

Twelve suspected pirates are currently being held in custody in France.