EU issues pirate warning to lone French yachtsman

4:47 AM Tue 8 Dec 2009 GMT

'Lone French sailor found sailing for Madagascar' .

In spite of dozens of warnings to cruising sailors to stay away from the pirate region anywhere near Somalia, still they come.

With one French cruising sailor dead and British sailor Rachel and Paul Chandler (who also ignored warnings by fellow cruisers in the Seychelles) still held hostage in Somalia, another sailor - a lone French cruiser - has been discovered sailing through pirate infested waters in the Gulf of Aden toward Madagascar.

The EU navy force off Somalia issued the danger alert Monday to the sailor. 'The region is considered a hotbed for piracy and is considered too dangerous for lone yachtsmen,' EUNAVFOR said in a statement, after one of its vessels, the Dutch warship HNLMS Evertsen made contact Monday with the sailor.

'Because his engine and auto steering gear had already broken down and he had no money left -- after being robbed in Aden -- to buy food and stores, a French officer ... strongly advised him to return to Djibouti and have second thoughts on his planned journey,' the statement said.

It said the officer 'was particularly motivated to have the sailor change his mind' because he had been involved in a rescue operation to free captives held on a French yacht, in which one of the hostages died.

The sailor finally turned his yacht toward Djibouti.

The world's naval powers last year deployed warships in the Gulf of Aden in an attempt to curb attacks by ransom-hunting pirates that were seen as a threat to one of the globe's most crucial maritime trade routes.

Pirates have since shifted their focus to the wider Indian Ocean, a huge area much more difficult to patrol, and have ventured as far as the Seychelles and beyond.

by Msn/Sail-World Cruising

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