22 French citizens, six Filipinos, a Cameroonian and a Ukrainian had been taken prisoner by the Somali pirates and were being held as hostages.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is reported to have given permission for the pirates to be taken out of the country.
France’s legal authorities are going to treat the case as a criminal action rather than terrorism, and organised crime police will be launching an investigation into the matter.
The Ponant's crew was released after the owners of the boat reportedly paid a ransom of $2m (£1m; 1.3m euros).
