Pirate hostages return to France
The crew members of a French yacht who were held by pirates off Somalia have arrived in France.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was on hand tonight at Paris’ Orly airport to greet the 30 crew members as they disembarked from a plane from the east African nation of Djibouti.
Families and friends of the crew – which included 22 French nationals – were also present on the tarmac.
The hostages had been released last Friday after negotiations with the owner of the ship, the Ponant. They had been held off the coast of Somalia since April 4.
French troops seized six of the pirates following the hostages’ release.
