Pirates seize French cruising yacht off Somalia

This story was written by Johanna Jainchill, who covers cruising for Travel Weekly. Jainchill is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log this week while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is on vacation.

Pirates have seized a French cruising yacht off the coast of Somalia, with 30 crewmembers and no passengers onboard, according to the cruise line.

Compagnie des Iles du Ponant said its 64-passenger sailing yacht, Le Ponant, was taken over by pirates in the in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen, as it was sailing from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean.

The yacht had completed a seven-night cruise in the Seychelles and Amirantes on March 30, and was heading to the Mediterranean to begin its summer sailing season there.

Reuters reported that the French Navy had lost contact with the yacht, and that it had diverted a surveillance aircraft to the area. It also said a ship from the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom was heading towards the site of the attack.

Ponant, which operates three small ships, said that its crew is mostly French.

The Gulf of Aden is the entry point to the Red Sea and a common route for cruise ships repositioning from Asia and Africa to the Mediterranean. Last November, the State Department advised U.S. citizens to use "extreme caution when sailing near the coast of Somalia" and cited the risk "seizure by pirates and having their crews held for ransom."

In 2005, pirates fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades on a Seabourn Cruises ship about 100 miles off the coast of Somalia. In that attack, the Seabourn Spirit repelled the pirates by using a sonic weapon, and the attackers were not able to board the vessel. One passenger suffered minor injuries.

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