Florent Lemacon was the co-owner of the yacht Tanit, along with his wife, Chloe. The couple and their three-year-old son Colin were taken hostage by Somali pirates during the weekend of April 4, 2009. On April 10, Lemacon was gunned down in a firefight between the pirates and French commandos. Chloe and Colin were rescued during the operation, which was launched after the captors began to explicitly threaten the Lemacons' lives.BBC News: Freed hostages arrive in France (April 12, 2009) French officials did not rule out the possibility that Lemacon had been shot by French fire, rather than that of the pirates.BBC News: Freed hostages arrive in France (April 12, 2009) He was 28 years old.

Florent and Chloe Lemacon had worked as an engineer and sales representative respectively before quitting their jobs in early 2008 to embark on a sailing trip to Zanzibar. Their motivation was reportedly to shield Colin from mainstream and consumer society. "We don't want our child to receive the sort of education that the government is concocting for us," Florent had told a French newspaper. "We have got rid of the television and everything that seemed superfluous to concentrate on what is essential."BBC News: Freed hostages arrive in France (April 12, 2009)