French Conduct Hostage Rescue Off Somalia - Updated

The AP is reporting the French Navy has raided a French yacht hijacked earlier this week, resulting in the death of one French hostage who was being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said two pirates were also killed in the operation in the Gulf of Aden, while three others were taken prisoner.

The boat, the Tanit, was seized by pirates last Saturday with four adults and a child on board.

There are dangers involved with hostage rescues. One thing is certain, anytime a ship with a French flag gets hijacked by pirates, the French military responds every time.

Updated: The blog covering the journey of the French yacht Tanit is here. Florent Lemaçon, the owner of the yacht, was killed in the rescue attempt. Whether he was executed or killed in the crossfire remains unclear.

His wife, 3 year old son, and 2 friends on the yacht have been rescued. Pictures of all on the blog, last updated March 20. If you read through the blog (in French), you will not how they did not take the piracy situation seriously, joked about piracy actually as if they were regular writers at the Huffington Post, ultimately ignoring the warnings they did not understand nor believe in.