Spain will send a military aircraft to patrol the waters off the coast of Somalia to protect ships from pirates, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

The plane, which will carry 90 Spanish soldiers, will reach the patrol area by the end of the week, the ministry said in a news release. It will operate from a base in Djibouti.

The move came after French commandos on Tuesday freed two French tourists held for ransom on their yacht off the African country's coast. In April, crew members of a Spanish fishing boat were freed by pirates in the area after payment of a $1.2 million ransom, according to a Somali official.

The P-3 Orion plane, designed for maritime patrol and reconnaissance, will collect information on the movements of pirates to relay to a European Union task force formed to work against piracy off the Horn of Africa.