( CNN ) -- A French hostage and two pirates died Friday in a rescue operation off Somalia , the French president 's office in Paris said Friday . Four hostages , including a child , were freed from the hijacked yacht after almost a week of captivity . Four hostages , including a child , were freed from the hijacked yacht after almost a week of captivity , Nicolas Sarkozy 's office said . The four adults and a child had been held aboard their yacht , the Tanit , since it was seized in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday , the president 's statement said . The military made its move after the pirates refused their offers , including one to swap an officer for the mother and child held aboard , and threatened to execute the hostages one-by-one -- and because the Tanit was drifting closer to the Somalian coast , the defense ministry said . The possibility that the pirates could take their hostages ashore was a red line that prompted the mission . The same red line triggered two successful rescue missions by the French military last year , the ministry said . According to French media reports , a special forces unit attacked the hijacked vessel from different directions in two motor-powered rubber boats . The pirates opened fire and the special forces team fired back . Two of the five pirates were killed , along with Florent Lemacon , the owner of the Tanit , French media said . The military rescued Lemacon 's wife and 3-year-old child along with two friends of the Lemacons . The Lemacons and their friends left Brittany last summer in the Tanit on a round-the-world trip , according to a blog they were keeping about the trip . The blog 's last post on March 20 -- when the Tanit was in the Gulf of Aden -- said the French military had twice contacted them in the previous few days to warn them of pirates . The French military brought back 12 pirates to stand trial in the previous two rescue missions , the Defense Ministry said . There has been a series of high-profile and increasingly sophisticated pirate attacks in recent months . View a map of Somali pirate activity » . Also off Somalia this week , the cargo vessel Maersk Alabama was boarded by pirates , who briefly took control of the ship . Although the crew retook the ship , its captain , Richard Phillips , on Friday was still being held by the gang holed up in a lifeboat . The Maersk was hijacked about 350 miles off Somalia 's coast , a distance that used to be considered safe for ships navigating in the pirate-infested waters . International navies have increased patrols in the area but the region is so large the pirates can still operate . The U.S. military warned earlier this week that recent attacks have occurred hundreds of miles off the coast , suggesting that pirates are using `` mother ships '' -- a practice of using bigger boats with longer range to launch smaller pirate ships against targets further out to sea . Last year , Somali pirates seized another French luxury yacht and the French military launched an operation that ended with them chasing the gang across the desert .
NEW : Military says mission prompted by fear pirates could take hostages ashore . NEW : Owner Florent Lemacon , who was held hostage , dies in rescue ; four freed . French military attack pirates holding yacht from different directions . Two pirates also killed in rescue operation .