Chloé Lemaçon's version of the Tanit tragedy implicates the army
(BRUSSELS2) It was last April : The Tanit is captured by the pirates. A couple from Vannes, Florent and Chloé Lemaçon, who left with their child for part of the world tour with two friends, are taken hostage in the middle of the Indian Ocean. France decides on a rapid intervention. The attack ends in tragedy: the skipper, Florent Lemaçon, dies victim of a bullet. A stray bullet from a soldier, pirates?... All versions have circulated. For the first time, his wife, Chloé, looks back on this drama and puts certain truths in their place.
It is a journalist from theObserver - the Sunday supplement of the British daily The Guardian - who collected his testimony. A long article - signed portrait by Jason Burke, at read in full, imbued with great humanity and in a long format that we only (very) rarely find in the columns of our newspapers.
On his blog, in a post dated this Monday, Chloé Lemaçon is even more explicit and calls the government into question, accusing it of "media manipulation". Below (my) translation of Jason Burke's article, supplemented by certain details given directly by Chloé Lemaçon on her blog (en gray), and taken up with his agreement.
Very young ordered by an older one. (Saturday, April 4)
By the time Chloe realizes what is happening, a boat is at the stern of the yacht and 5 men are pointing their Kalashnikovs at her. “It was bad. They were for us”. She calls her husband. Florent comes just hang up the sat phone with her mom. « Four are young people, in their ragged T-shirts and shorts. A fifth, clearly the leader, is older. The first thing they do is put everyone on the bow of the boat and check that there are no other people on board, then ask who the captain is and give the order to put the course towards the Somali coast. There was no way to resist or run away. And 15 minutes later the Tanit heads west. An hour later, when a military plane from the international coalition flies over (the boat) several times, the pirates panic. Fearing that the sight of their boat moored to a yacht in the middle of the ocean would trigger suspicion, they cut off themoorage »
Panic on board as the navy approaches. (Sunday, April 5)
«The daily appointment is missed, the parents at home try to raise the alarm. But they were told not to worry, despite the reported attack on the freighter the day before. »
(Monday April 6, evening) After a second day of silence, the alarm was sounded. UA French plane flies over Tanit and a French Navy frigate (NB: Floréal) leaves Djibouti with a team of commandos on board.
(MWednesday April 8, evening) When the frigate finally reached the Tanit, it was 48 hours from the Somali coast. “Everything got very tense. The pirates brought the crew up on deck with cannons at their heads. They were totally lost. When the Navy arrived and surrounded them, they had no idea what to do. Their boss called on the phone ».
The negotiations
Their rescuers, too, seemed unsure of how to proceed. “French troops fire on the mast and the sails in an attempt to immobilize the boat. But the current continues to carry them towards the Somali coast. Negotiations continue 24 hours between the pirates and the French on motorboats of the (French) frigate. Two of the youngest pirates want to surrender - and even put down their weapons - but night has fallen. » "The Lemasons are sure that the negotiators saw them in the lower aft cabin of the boat and nowhere else."
(Thursday 9 April, afternoon): "One of the frigates is approaching a hundred meters from Tanit (...). As with each rapprochement, the pirates bring us all up on deck. A sheet is stretched along the hull of the frigate, one can read "STOP". Then we can hear that we have to stop the boat, that France will not accept this situation and that they will use force, if necessary, to stop Tanit. (...) When the pirates understand the determination of the forces present, they immediately send me down to the saloon with Colin and under the close supervision of one of the two leaders. Thus, when the shots start to ring out, it is total chaos on board, more than ten shots ring out in the mast. Outside, Florent utters such a cry that I believe he is injured (in fact one of the pirates let go of a blow, fortunately without consequences). I am face to face with this pirate and his Kalashnikov, my son in my arms and I endlessly repeat to him: "please". He is distraught, takes aim at me, having removed the safety of his weapon, it lasts a few minutes... All of Tanit's sails are therefore lowered, night falls, the pirates are very agitated. They keep phoning or chatting in Somali on the VHF with the mediator. Some surrender, lay down their arms, another wants to commit suicide... until the chief turns on his GPS again and notices that Tanit is heading at 2,5 knots towards Somalia, carried by the current. End of communications, new night of anguish..."
(Friday April 10) "After a long day of negotiations, the yacht is now only 30 km offshore (from the Somali coast)."
The fatal blow: a "reflex" shot ?
What happened next:it's pretty clear that the widely reported official version is quite far from the truth"reports Jason Burke, who recounts the sequel "First, shots come from the frigate from which the snipers aim for the leader and wound two of the pirates. dinghies with commandos appear at the rear of the frigate, reaching the Tanit in 30 seconds. A shot is fired by a wounded pirate who, wounded, collapses on the ground, takes his weapon and shoots one of the hostages in the forward cabin, but he misses and is tackled to the ground by his target and one of the hackers. There is then no longer any exchange of fire when the French troops board the yacht. The Lemaçons, all three, are, as usual, alone in the aft cabin, unsupervised. The soldiers rush to the stern of the boat and take position, Florent (Lemaçon) has seen the one above through the porthole and instinctively gets up to shout at him to go to the bow, where his two friends are. (Chloé) Lemaçon hears no gunshots but feels her husband collapsing on her and her son".
Chloé Lemaçon completes on her blog: “ Only one pirate was killed by the snipers, two others were injured. Whoever jumps into the water does so under duress when the commandos come on board. There are no firefights at this time. Florent is not in the saloon but in the aft cabin with us, the same place that we have not left during all the negotiations. The bullet that killed Florent wasn't a Kalashnikov bullet, and it wasn't lost. »
A stroke of "bad luck"
In any case, Chloé Lemaçon rejects all the criticisms of unconsciousness that have been lent to the Vannes couple. On the contrary ! Warned by the French navy not to go to Kenya, they changed their destination, aiming for the Seychelles. They were careful not to approach within 500 miles of the coast. Chloé Lemaçon explains that they were "at 9 degrees 36 north, 58 degrees 35 south, i.e. 512 nautical miles (823 km) from the Somali coast and not 640 km (397 miles) as reported". The pirates had attacked a freighter not far out in the ocean the day before. The little boat wasn't really of much interest to them. But the pirates, after their hunt the day before, had exhausted all their fuel, water and food and didn't even have enough fuel to get back to Somalia. The Tanit, ironically, has (made) their lives easier...
