Kidnapped British yacht couple urges for help
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
A British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates three months ago have said they are in urgent need of help.
Rachel Chandler told a journalist from the French news agency who met them in captivity that they were badly treated and that he thought they did not have much time left.
She and husband Paul, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing towards Tanzania on 23 October. The couple have been separated by their captors and are being held apart from each other in rugged areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara, further inland. Mr Chandler, 60, said the couple could not meet the pirates' ransom demands and begged the UK government to help.
The pirates have threatened to kill the couple if their demands for $7m (£4.4m) are not met, but the Foreign Office has said it does not pay ransoms or give substantial concessions to pirates.