The Seychellois forces intervene. The 7 fishermen hostages of the pirates, freed

The Seychelles Coast Guard and the Tazar intervention unit have recovered the 7 fishermen who have been in the hands of Somali pirates since Friday, the Seychelles President, James Michel (who is also the Minister of Defence) has just confirmed. , according to the statement I just received. The intervention did not drag on. And, as often, it was the key to success... with the help of heaven.

On Friday, the pirates captured the "Faith", a 33-foot Seychellois fishing boat, about 240 miles north of Mahé, the main island of the archipelago. We are in the exclusive economic zone. Resources arrive quickly in the area. Three planes, including two European (which participate in the EUNAVFOR operation). And two Seychelles Coast Guard vessels.

The Awacs and the anti-piracy unit Tazar engaged

From the sky, the pirates are indeed well tracked. The surveillance aircraft of the Seychelles forces, the Luxembourg maritime patrol aircraft (1) and the French Awacs E3F (2) (which thus signs its first decisive contribution in an operation to free hostages held by pirates) are taking part . The forces at sea then intervene: the two coast guard ships, the Tabar and the Andromache, and above all the brand new anti-piracy intervention unit of the Tazar (3). The hostages are freed and the pirates have been arrested, says one in Port Victoria. This is the second time that the Seychellois forces intervene in an offensive way. The first time was at the end of March 2010 to release, in particular, six sailors from Galate (4).

Exchange of fires: a deceased pirate

(update November 22) The firefights were quite lively. If no Seychellois fisherman was injured - according to the testimonies collected by our Seychellois colleagues -, several pirates, on the other hand, were injured, including one fatally. He died on the way home aboard a coastguard vessel. In all, 16 pirates have been captured and could be presented to a magistrate, depending on the modification of the penal code of the archipelago.

16 pirates arrested twice

(updated 23 November) The EU anti-piracy HQ (EUNAVFOR Atalanta) has confirmed that the pirate group may have also attacked a Spanish Basque tuna boat. And he provided details on air/navy cooperation. There were, in fact, two successive interventions. One, November 18. The French Awacs E3F spotted three "suspicious radar contacts" on which the Luxembourg reconnaissance plane Merlin III left. This confirmed a group of pirates, a whaler and two skiffs 300 miles southwest of Port Victoria. The Seychelles forces at sea then intervened, intercepting the whaler and one of the skiffs, with 5 suspects on board. One of the skiffs was able to flee. The second intervention took place on November 20. This time to free the pirated fishing boat. According to the same modus operandi, the hostage boat and its attackers were located 240 miles northwest of Port Victoria. Seychellois forces then intervened, seizing the whaler, the two pirate skiffs and arresting the 11 pirate captors.

Read also:

• (1)  Report (exclusive) with the "Luxembourgish" planes of Atalanta in the Seychelles
• Luxembourg planes in the Seychelles: “very useful” private planes! »
• (2) A new permanent Awacs for Atalanta
• (3) Creation of a special anti-piracy unit in the Seychelles: Tazar
• (4) Pursuit in the ocean. The Topaz releases 27 hostages and arrests 9 pirates