Somali pirates demand £4.2 million for release of British couple

Somali pirates who kidnapped a retired British couple from their yacht have demanded a £4.2 million ransom for their release.

Paul Chandler and his wife Rachel: Somali pirates allow kidnapped couple to phone home
Paul Chandler and his wife Rachel: Mr Chandler said the couple were forced to sail towards Somalia after their boat was captured by pirates . Photo: AFP
Timeline of the Chandlers' capture by pirates
Timeline of the Chandlers' capture by pirates

Paul Chandler, 59, and his wife Rachel, 55, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured in the early hours of October 23 when armed men woke them at gunpoint as they sailed in the Indian Ocean.

Last night one of their pirate captors telephoned the BBC to make their first ransom demand for $7 million, the equivalent of £4.2 million.

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He said: "If they do not harm us, we will not harm them. We only need a little amount of $7 million."

He said the couple had been captured by "our brothers who patrol the coast".

Explaining the decision to set the ransom, the caller said: "Nato operations had a lot of negative impact here.

"They have destroyed a lot of equipment belonging to the poor local fishermen.

"They arrest fishermen and destroy their equipment.

"In defiance to our local administrations, they illegally transfer the fishermen to their own prisons and prisons of other countries.

"So when you consider the damage and all the people affected we say the amount is not big."

Earlier on Friday Mrs Chandler was allowed to make a phone call to her family, which was broadcast on ITV news.

She fought tears as she urged her family not to worry, saying she and husband Paul were ''safe'' and described their captors as ''very hospitable people''.

But the strain of being held at gunpoint showed as Mrs Chandler eventually broke down during a conversation with her brother Stephen Collett.

Mr Chandler, 59, also sounded stressed during the phone call.

He spoke slowly and gave little away, in contrast to his calm demeanour when he made first contact with the outside world via the broadcaster yesterday.

Mrs Chandler told her brother: ''Please don't worry about us, we're managing.''

She added: ''I'm bearing up. Thank you for everything you're doing.''

Mrs Chandler reassured her brother that she was being well cared for and managed to compose herself to continue the conversation.

''We're safe,'' she said.

''If we want anything they will provide it in terms of food and water.

''They are very hospitable people.

''Physically we're fine, physically we're healthy.''

Mrs Chandler, 55, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, was unable to say where the couple were being held.

British Government officials have held urgent talks on their plight at the Cobra emergency briefing room.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: ''There is a team working across government on this kidnap issue.''

The spokesman said it was providing consular support to the Chandlers' family and ''a broad range of experts'' were contributing to the Government's response.

However, it was not a full Cobra meeting and no ministers attended.

The couple were taken hostage as they sailed from the Seychelles towards Tanzania.

They were forced to sail towards Somalia before being moved onto a container ship, the Kota Wajar, which was seized by the pirates earlier this month.

Mr Chandler told ITV News that he was aboard the Kota Wajar during yesterday's call.

On Friday his wife said they had been moved from the ship but was not able to say where they were being held.

A man named Abdinor who claimed to speak for the Somali kidnappers said the couple spent last night in the coastal town of Harardhere, a pirate stronghold.

They are thought to have been moved to a ship anchored off the eastern coast of Somalia today as the pirates try to stay one step ahead of the authorities.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged the pirates to release the couple, describing hostage-taking as ''unacceptable''.

Mr Chandler, a quantity surveyor, and his economist wife, took early retirement about three years ago.

They have spent several six-month spells at sea, returning home for brief visits