Paris: The French navy is continuing to follow a luxury yacht off the Somali coast, two days after pirates took the crew hostage.

France says 22 of the 30-strong crew are French, including six women.

"We are still in this phase of the pirates carrying on sailing with us following them at a distance," France's Defence Minister Herve Morin said, adding that he expected the hijackers would eventually make land somewhere in Somalia.

Pirates took control of the French-owned yacht on Friday as it was sailing through the Gulf of Aden. The boat then headed south towards the Somali coast.

According to the mother of one of the ship hands, who spoke to company officials, the crew have not been ill-treated.

The crew had been sailing from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean when they were boarded. They were not carrying passengers at the time of the attack.