Seychelles under pirate siege - ten sailors now hostag

The remote diving and holidaying destination of the Seychelles is now under virtual siege with the threat of piracy in its waters. Ten Seychellois are now in the hands of Somali pirates.

With the news that there were three sailors, not two as previously reported, on board the S/Y Serenity, which was hijacked in late February, it brings to ten the number of yacht sailors, as opposed to commercial seamen, being held by Somali pirates. All ten are nationals of the Seychelles.

The third sailor, John Horeau has been confirmed as the third hostage on Serenity. Gilbert Victor and Andre Conrad were already listed. The yacht was not even heading for the Gulf of Aden at the time of the attack - its destination was Madagascar, to the south.

'The government of Seychelles strongly condemns any act against the property and the people of Seychelles,' Transport Minister Joel Morgan said.

Last week, the islands' police chief confirmed that the three Seychellois sailors are been held hostage by Somali pirates since their catamaran was hijacked. They had left the archipelago on February 28 for Madagascar.

The other boat being held, the Indian Ocean Explorer, was a boat used for diving, and it was hijacked after it dropped off tourists on one of its islands, officials said today. It was not clear who the pirates were or when the Indian Ocean Explorer was seized with its seven Seychellois crew members.

Seychelles Foreign Affairs Minister Patrick Pillay told reporters his government had contacted naval forces in the region who 'guaranteed to track down the boat.'

'We believe the vessel headed north towards Somalia,” said Andrew Mwangura, who monitors piracy for the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme in Mombasa, Kenya.

Mwangura has long been responsible for accurate reports coming from the region, and was last year jailed for a period by the Kenyan government for publishing embarrassing information about a secret Kenyan arms deal with the Sudan, relating to the hijacking of the cargo ship Faina.

“Maybe they are shifting in order to pull military escorts away from the Gulf of Aden, so they can go back to attacking shipping there.”

The Seychelles coral archipelago offers some of the best diving in the world and its pristine beaches lure thousands of tourists each year.

Now the islands’ Government is deploying security forces to its outer islands after the latest incident, the second such hijacking in a month.

“Our forces are ready for any eventualities,” said Brigadier Leopold Payet, the islands’ military chief.

The number and success rate of pirate attacks has declined slightly this year, thanks to unfavourable seas and a greater foreign naval presence in the Gulf of Aden.