Just as the crew from a Danish yacht were released by their pirate captors so another yacht has been attacked and the crew apparently abducted.
According to reports from Reuters, four people were thought to have been kidnapped by pirates after international forces found a French yacht lying unoccupied off the coast of Yemen.
The French foreign ministry has said that a French-registered boat had been found off the coast of al-Mahra near Omani border by a German frigate after it had made an emergency call late on Thursday.
The yacht was found without crew.
The nationality of the crew is not known.
The yacht left Aden on Sept 4 and lost contact with radio stations who were monitoring their progress on Thursday.
Michael Frodl, a Washington-based emerging risks consultant who among other things founded and now heads up a group called, C-Level Maritime Risks predicted that pirates would adopt this type of behaviour some time ago.
C-Level Maritime Risks closely monitors Somali pirates, studies their evolving business model, and forecasts trends for underwriters at Lloyds and senior decision makers in Washington.