France frees yacht off Somalia

The French navy made contact with the pirates on Thursday and decided to launch the rescue bid after the gang refused to accept an offer of a ransom and tried instead to sail towards the coast.

"We proposed everything we were able to offer, enabling them reach to land. We even offered them a ransom," Morin said, declining to say how much money was put forward.

It was the third time in a year that the French military had intervened after a French-registered yacht was captured, and the first time a hostage has died.

Chloe and Florent Lemacon left France with their son Colin last July aboard the Tanit, writing about their adventures in a blog -- tanit.over-blog.fr/.

They picked up another couple along the way and were heading towards the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

The French Foreign Ministry said earlier this week the French navy had urged the Lemacons not to sail through the Gulf of Aden but that the warning had gone unheeded.

Morin said French sailors should avoid the area.

"I repeat in the clearest manner and with the most forthright warning to any of our citizens who are thinking about venturing into this area of the Indian Ocean, I ask them to forget it," he said.

The Lemacons mentioned the risk posed by pirates in their blog, but shrugged off the threat.