A couple of French yachtsmen disappeared off the coast of Yemen. Act of piracy? (caps3)

(BRUXELLES2) It was an SOS launched by radio - Thursday (8 September) - which launched the alert. The French sailboat "Tribal Kat" was then about 120 miles from the Yemeni coast. But when the sailors of FS Bayern - the German frigate which is part of the European anti-piracy force Eunavfor Atalanta - locate the ship and arrive on site on Friday (September 9) in the early morning, there is no one left. " The inspection of the ship no one was on board. The destination of its occupants was unknown until now We confirm at Atalanta HQ in London. A rather worrying disappearance which immediately makes one think of an attack by Somali pirates.

Confusing Circumstances

The circumstances are first of all quite confused: we are talking about 4 people on board and then only 2. On the side of the Yemeni coastguards, it evokes, in fact, two French boats leaving from Aden, one with a couple, the other with 4 passengers. The couple reportedly left Aden port on September 4 after a city tour of Aden which started on August 19 (*). It would be made up of a former member of the Royal and his wife, C. and E. Colombo, from the Var, who had decided to leave everything in November 2008 to go around the world, as our colleagues from France Info : first the Caribbean and Panama, then the Red Sea; they were sailing towards Malaysia.

The first elements of the investigation - revealed by the daily "Le Parisien" - speak " traces of blood and bullet holes found on board. Which could imply a hostage-taking. " The sailboat will be towed to Djibouti to be examined by DGSE experts “says the daily. Circumstances rather worrying and which let us fear the worst. But, on the Yemeni side, we wanted to be reassuring. The deputy head of the Yemeni coast guard, Colonel Abdul-Rahman Musa, specified (Friday) that " the couple had been saved by a military ship of friendly forces. The sailboat had suffered from a technical problem (**).

Possible hacker attack

Given the area, one can only immediately think of an attack by Somali pirates, who lock the coasts between Somalia and Oman, as shown by the last intervention of the Navy of Oman. Burned by the latest operations with sailboats (the French Tanit, the American SY Quest, etc.), too slow to tow and above all very easy to spot, the pirates were able to change tactics and preferred to take what has the most "market value" : the people.

Confirmed attack on the military side but false rumors of release

According to military maritime sources, obtained by B2, it is confirmed that a sailboat was indeed hacked on Thursday September 8 in the area concerned, at 15° North and 52° East. The alert was given around 19:00 p.m. But on the French side, we refuse to officially confirm this act of piracy as well as a possible rescue (**). " We verify. Until we have confirmation or claim, we cannot confirm this fact explains a French official. At the Quai d'Orsay, we also remain very cautious about the announcement relayed by the press on Saturday: of a successful rescue: " We must verify that the couple found is indeed the missing couple ».

HQ Atalanta side, we refuse to confirm that sailors would have been recovered by a ship of the operation. On the contrary... At the French General Staff, we also remain on the alert, "Lcase is being followed with attention. We have taken precautionary measures”. We remain discreet about the nature of the measures taken. But one can think that several of the ships engaged in the sector, like the Surcouf, or other troops based in particular in Djibouti, are put on alert. The objective then being to get hold of potential kidnappers before they reach the Somali coast.

A crew member recovered safe and sound on Saturday

(Maj. Sat 20:30 p.m. and 21:30 p.m.) It's done at least for one of the crew members. Read : Tribal Kat crew member recovered safe and sound on Saturday

(*) Yemen not really being the ideal place for tourism in this period of trouble.

(**) (Maj Sat. 19 p.m. and 20 p.m.) In fact, the Yemeni Coast Guard relied on the recovery of the vessel to announce that the couple were safe and sound. This information from the Yemeni agency Sabanews was then repeated in a loop, without verification, by the press (AFP, Parisien, France24 ...) and often dated not Friday as originally but Saturday. This introduced some confusion including in the official ranks. These remained all the more discreet as several recovery operations were in progress. It took several hours for reality to be restored. There was no couple found, at least in the immediate future, as the Yemenis said. So fake good news. But real good news actually arrived in the evening, confirmed by the European anti-piracy HQ.

Read also: Muscular intervention of the Navy of Oman