Pirates seized control of a French cruise ship carrying 30 crew members Friday in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia, the French Foreign Ministry and the ship's owner said.
Attackers stormed the three-mast Le Ponant as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, said officials with French maritime transport company CMA-CGM.
The corporate officials said they were in close contact with the French Foreign Ministry, which said in a statement that a cruise boat and its crew had been hit by a pirate attack.
The ship was in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean, the ministry said. At least some of the crew members are French, it said.
According to the company's Web site, the 88-meter (288-f00t) boat features four decks, two restaurants, and indoor and outdoor luxury lounges. It can hold up to 64 passengers.
French Rear Adm. Jean L. Kerignard is the current commander of Task Force 150. Given all the ships in the region, it probably won't take long before one catches up with the cruise ship.
One thing is very clear, the pirates continue to attack ships undeterred by naval activity in the region. We continue to observe ransoms paid and very few arrests made. Piracy clearly still pays very well, and despite the media attention to the pirate activities, the west does not appear to have the political will to take any offensive action against the pirates, their bases of operations, and given the frequency it is worth considering that the western Navies have virtually no good intelligence regarding regional pirate operations.
Keep an eye open at Eagle1s place, he will almost certainly cover this story with his usual brilliance.
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