Sunday - April 12, 2009

FRENCH RESCUE AND PHOTOS ….

Are you folks seeing this in the states?

Rescued French yacht captain Florent Lemacon may have died in friendly fire
The Frenchman who died during a military operation to free his yacht from the clutches of a Somali pirate gang may have been a victim of friendly fire, France’s government said on Saturday.

By Colin Freeman and Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
Last Updated: 2:22PM BST 12 Apr 2009

In admission that will cast fresh doubts over the controversial decision to free Florent Lemacon and four other hostages by force, defence minister Herve Morin said he could not rule out the possibility that he had been hit by a French commando’s bullet.

Ok..take a good look at that woman’s face.  Can there be any question at all that the French authorities acted correctly?  Fresh doubts? Only among total stupid idiots!  Btw, one of the pirates was below deck shooting up through the deck.  French marine fired back. There is a report that a third pirate went into the drink but no report on anyone saving the savage.  But it hasn’t been confirmed officially that I’m aware of.  If true, I hope something with fins gets him. Stingers will do also.

An admission that will cast fresh doubts over the controversial decision to free Florent Lemacon and four other hostages by force, defence minister Herve Morin said he could not rule out the possibility that he had been hit by a French commando’s bullet.
“There will be a judicial inquiry and therefore an autopsy,” he told French radio. “One cannot exclude that during the exchange of fire between the pirates and commandos the shot was French,”

The French navy also released dramatic footage of the hostage drama aboard the Tanit, the yacht on which Mr Lemacon was travelling with his wife Chloe, three year old son Colin, and another French couple.

The images, shot from a French military craft, show them sitting down in the yatch surrounded by Kalashnikov-wielding pirates on all sides. In one shot, a female hostage - looking visibly frightened - stared out to sea as a gunman pointed his assault rifle right at her head.

Other footage showed Friday’s ill-fated rescue mission itself, with a boatful of black-clad French commandos speeding toward the stricken yacht and clambering aboard. Mr Lemacon is believed to have died in an exchange of fire as he tried to duck down the yacht’s hatch. Two pirates also died in the operation, while another three were caught and are expected to be taken to France for trial.

The French government, which prides itself on taking a tough line on piracy, claimed that it launched the military operation after negotiations with the pirates broke down.

Officials said the gang had refused a ransom offer, and were intent on taking the hostages back to the mainland, where it would have been far harder for them to have been rescued. That Mr Lemacon, 28, ended up dead illustrates how potentially risky such operations are, even for special forces troops trained in hostage release. Supporters of such tactics argue, however, that the alternative tactic of paying ransoms simply encourages pirates further.

“The French assault does illustrate the real risks that are faced by ship owners, and explains why most of them agree to pay ransoms,” said Leslie Edwards, a British-based negotiations advisor with Clayton Consultants, who has handled numerous Somali hijack cases. “Their first duty is to the safety of their ship. As we say in most of the kidnaps that we deal with, it is better to be ransomed alive than rescued dead.”

The four remaining ex-hostages from the Tanit were due to arrive home in Paris today aboard a French-chartered plane. The death of the boat’s idealistic young captain, who was from Vannes, Brittany, brought to a tragic end what should have been the journey of a lifetime.
Mr Lemacon, an engineer, and Mrs Lemaçon, a sales engineer, had given up their jobs to restore the 33-year-old Tanit before setting sail last year, saying that they wanted to flee “the consumer soceity and its routine”.

But as they sailed into the Indian Ocean, the dangers of the wilder, more lawless world they were entering into were spelt out to them in no uncertain terms. Last month, when they crossed paths with a French frigate participating in a European Union anti-piracy operation, they were “strongly advised” against continuing their intended voyage to Zanzibar.

The couple carried on however. In a blog of their journey, they said that they had merely been told to keep away from commercial shipping routes - although they also indicated a laissez-faire attitude to the risk of being hijacked.

“The danger is there and has indeed become greater over the past months, but the ocean is vast,” they wrote. “The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream.” In the end, that was exactly what happened.

The pirates claimed a fresh victim yesterday after hijacking an Italian-flagged tugboat with 16 crew - including 10 Italians - off Somalia’s northern coast. A Panama flagged bulk carrier that was also attacked yesterday managed to drive the pirates away by spraying them with waterhoses, although not before an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade landed in the commanding officers’ cabin.

RESCUE

Posted by peiper     on 04/12/2009 at 12:17 PM   
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! • Terrorists •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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