A sailboat has been attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, and the crew from France taken as hostages. The sailboat
Carre D’as was seized by pirates near in the Gulf of Aden, and the yacht and French hostages have now been taken to land in Somalia, where they are being kept hostage.
This is the third pirate attack on a yacht in 2008, although there are attacks on large cargo ships in the Gulf of Aden ond off the coast of Somalia all the time. In fact there are currently over 100 hostages being kept in Somalia.
Read more about the Pirate Attack in Somalia
The Carre D’as is reported to being used by the pirates in Somalia to attack other boats. The French-owned, 24 meter 2-mast luxury sailing yacht, an Amel Super Maramu, which was on her way from Australia to France, when she was hi-jacked in the Gulf of Aden, is now being used as a decoy to lure other potential targets.
Reports directly from Somalia indicate that the hostages, the couple Jean-Yves and his wife Bernardette Delanne of French Nationality, were dropped at the Somali coast near Caluula at the tip of the Horn of Africa, from where part of the gang have dragged them into a remote hideout in the Xaabo mountains
The local people belong to the Sawaaqron sub-clan of Majerteen, who live there together with the people of the Osman Mohamud and Isse Mohamud sub-clan. All belong to the the Majerteen Clan of the Somali Darood people. The Majerteen operate the autonomous Somali province of Majertenia as their own state, called Puntland, which is at the core of the recent wave of piracy in Somali waters.
The sailing yacht might be accompanied (visibility maybe concealed from the view-side of a targeted ship) by another, small but fast boat with one or two strong outboard engines, like the one pictured below, which usually carries 5-7 heavily armed attackers (equipped with bazookas, assault guns like AK47, G3, FAL, M16 plus RPG - rocket propelled grenade launchers, as well as hand-grenades and/or mines). Such attack-boats do deliver a swift and heavy assault:
Somali Pirate attack boat - .. . |
The Somali hi-jackers of the couple demand for the release a sum in excess of 1.4 million US dollar and the return of the 6 Somali prisoners, which the French Navy had taken after the negotiated and paid-for release of the French Luxury Yacht Le Ponant, a 3-master. The 6 Somalis were put on trial in Paris.
After the couple was taken ashore, the yacht was taken to sea again by the heavily armed gunmen.
While an attempt to sell the yacht at ports in the Gulf states can also not be ruled out, it is presumed that it is at present used to hunt for other ships. It might very well be used as a decoy to approach other unsuspecting yachts or simulate and signal an engine failure or other emergency at sea, whereby it then would attack any ship coming closer in order to provide assistance.
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