French Fishermen Rescue Capsized Pirates After Attack

Six Somali pirates whose boat had flipped over were rescued by the French fishermen they had just tried to assault.
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French Fishermen Rescue Capsized Pirates After Attack
A French Navy 'Panther' helicopter chases a boat carrying suspected Somali pirates off the French warship 'Le Nivose', as part of European Union's anti-piracy naval mission. (Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images)
3/9/2010
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/86357415.jpg" alt="A French Navy 'Panther' helicopter chases a boat carrying suspected Somali pirates off the French warship 'Le Nivose', as part of European Union's anti-piracy naval mission. (Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images)" title="A French Navy 'Panther' helicopter chases a boat carrying suspected Somali pirates off the French warship 'Le Nivose', as part of European Union's anti-piracy naval mission. (Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1822274"/></a>
A French Navy 'Panther' helicopter chases a boat carrying suspected Somali pirates off the French warship 'Le Nivose', as part of European Union's anti-piracy naval mission. (Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images)

PARIS—Six Somali pirates whose boat had flipped over were rescued by the French fishermen they had just tried to assault, revealed the French Army.

Talenduic, a French tuna boat, was fishing about 400 miles south of Somalia when, on March 8, three aggressive boats appeared, prompting the French fishermen to call two other nearby boats for help.

The pirates attacked, apparently not knowing that each French vessel in the area is now protected by armed soldiers. The pirates were welcomed by assault of riffle fire. When they tried to escape, two of their three boats capsized, one because of a wave, and the second one after running into one of the rescue boats.

“Six men were rescued and are now safe on one of the tuna boats,” reported the French Ministry of Defense.
Th French navy has been particularly effective recently at striking back at Somali pirates. Last weekend, they captured 35 pirates off Somalia’s coast, as part of the European Union’s anti-piracy mission launched in December 2008.

Facing a strong military presence, pirates who used to operate north of Somalia are now focusing their attacks hundreds of miles south, almost reaching as far as the island nation of Madagascar.