S/Y LYNN RIVAL has reportedly already reached the Central Somali coast

Four days after their distress call was sent out near the Seychelles and received by the naval crisis centre, the abducted 13m, one-mast sailing yacht S/Y LYNN RIVAL with an elderly British couple on board has reportedly already reached the Central Somali coast, while ...

EU NAVFOR statements still speculated about a boat with sails and skiffs in tow apparently observed by a helicopter 200nm off the Somali coast at the same time.

Later last night coast-based marine observers reported further that the yacht has been commandeered from around 30 nm south of Hobyo to a location further south and off Ceel Huur - i. e. north of Harardheere at the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia.

The President of Galmudug regional state Mohamed Ahmed Alin as well as several respected elders from the area promised to do all in their power to achieve a fast and unconditional release.

All Somali officials and regional analysts, however, wonder why the situation was not immediately reported by the responsible centre receiving the distress signal to other search and rescue centres and to the Somali government at the time when the distress call was sent last Friday. Somali Prime Minister Sharmake was only informed by other sources briefly before he met with the British Foreign Secretary in London on Tuesday, who confirmed the incident to him, but had no details. Also the Somali PM promised immediate response to solve the case as soon as possible and achieve an unharmed release.

Why the naval forces took so long to respond with so little results after over 72h since the distress signal was sent remains likewise unexplained.

Somalia's anti-piracy envoy Ismail Haji Noor noted that he receives more and better information from the ground or the media than from EU NAVFOR's Atalanta headquarters in the UK. "While the Somali government reports any occurrence to the command centre of Atalanta, the information flow and co-operation from the side of the naval forces is very sparsely forthcoming - if at all," he remarked.

A post-incident report concerning an attack on Tuesday early afternoon targeting a French tuna vessel and concerning the subsequent armed response by French naval forces stationed on the purse-seiner FV CAP SAINT-VINCENT including the possible injury or death of one of the attackers remained likewise still outstanding until a day after. Only today morning it was released by EU NAVFOR that the attack on the French tuna hauler actually took place as we reported. The statement not naming the vessel reads:
In the afternoon of October 27th 2009, 350 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, Somalia a French Fishing Vessel was attacked by pirates in two attack skiffs. The pirates opened fire on the Fishing Vessel. Her embarked military Vessel Protection Detachment (VPD) fired warning shots after which the pirates broke of their attack.

The EU NAVFOR German warship FGS Karlsruhe, on anti-piracy patrol in the area, was ordered to set course to the attack position.

Simultaneously, the helicopter of EU NAVFOR Spanish warship ESPS Canarias, also on anti-piracy patrol, was launched and relocated two fast attack skiffs trying to flee the area of the attack.
The helicopter fired warning shots to stop both skiffs, after which the pirates stopped and were seen throwing items, presumably pirate paraphernalia, overboard. On arrival of FGS Karlsruhe her boarding team secured both skiffs, and found seven persons on board of the two skiffs. The French Fishing vessel was requested to return to the scene to identify their attackers. Upon their statements the seven suspected pirates were detained on board FGS Karlsruhe.

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