Troops storm pirate skiff, free one French sailor - three missing

5:20 AM Sun 11 Sep 2011 GMT

'17 metre Tribal Kat, sailed by French couple Christian and Evelyne Colombo, in happier days' .

Troops from a Spanish warship Galicia have stormed a pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden and rescued a French hostage missing from her yacht Tribal Kat, but found no trace of her husband or of two other crew reported to be on board.

EU naval spokesman Captain Paul Gelly says the rescued hostage was Evelyne Colombo, wife and crewmate of missing sailor Christian Colombo. They had been sailing their 17metre catamaran on a round world cruise since 2008.

A German warship, the FGS Bayern, had found the couple's yacht, adrift in waters off Yemen on Thursday after it had responded to a distress call. There was no-one on board and the EU Atalanta naval command launched an air and sea search for the attackers. French officials said there were signs of a struggle on board the yacht, which was towed to Djibouti to be studied by agents from the DGSE spy agency.

The troops detained seven pirates after they stormed the skiff.

The Spanish defence ministry statement the Galicia had detected a skiff 'engaged in activities related to piracy while it was on a surveillance mission off the Somali coast.'

When the skiff ignored an order to stop, the commander of the Galicia ordered his men to open fire. At that time, it was discovered that they had a hostage on board, who was a woman.

The amphibious ship proceeded to intercept the pirate vessel. The operation involved a helicopter and naval warfare team, who fired on the engine of the boat, to disable it.

Following an exchange of fire, the pirate ship sank and the Spanish troops rescued the hostage.

'After getting her to safety, they proceeded to the arrest the seven pirates.'

The waters between Yemen and Somalia are notorious for attacks by pirate gangs, and French yachts have been among the vessels seized in the past.

The attack on the French yacht came the same week seven crew members from a Danish yacht were released after a rumoured $3 million ransom was paid. A $1 million ransom was also believed to be paid last year to free a British couple also seized from their yacht.

Some analysts worry that Somali pirates may increasingly turn to seizing high-value Western hostages from yachts, as well as hijacking large merchant vessels plying some of the world's busiest shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia.

by Sail-World Cruising round-up