French Navy seizes pirates, skiffs and mother boat

The French Navy this morning seized a pirate "mother craft," two attack skiffs and eleven pirates.

The size of the mother boat--10 meters long--may indicate that some pirates, at least, are using substantially smaller support craft than generally expected. Nonetheless, it was carrying seventeen 200-liter fuel drums.

The frigate Nivôse, operating as part of the EU Atalanta counter-piracy mission, intercepted the boat about 900 km east of Mombasa.

The Nivôse first encountered the pirates yesterday when its helicopter helped thwart an attack on the Safmarine Asia. It tracked the boats overnight and intercepted them this morning.

Boarding teams from Nivôse detain skiff