Kidnap yacht couple 'treated well'

Oct 30 2009

A British couple being held hostage by pirates have said they are being looked after by their kidnappers.

Paul Chandler, 59, and his wife Rachel, 55, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured when armed men boarded their yacht.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Chandler said: "We are being treated well."

He told BBC News they were being fed but was clearly unable to speak freely. When asked if he was in Somalia, he said: "I can't answer that."

He said he was not aware of any negotiations taking place with his captors. Asked if he had a message for his family or the British Government, he said: "Nothing I can say."

In a separate interview with ITV News, he described the terrifying moment "men with guns came aboard".

"I was off watch. I was asleep, and men with guns came aboard. It was on Friday last week at 0230," he said.

ITV News managed to speak to Mr Chandler shortly before 11am GMT on Thursday. At the time of that call, Mr Chandler said the couple were being held "hostage" a mile off the coast of Somalia on the Kota Wajar, a container ship which was hijacked in the Indian Ocean on October 15.

It is now believed they have been taken to a village in Somalia and that British officials are trying to secure their release.

The family of the kidnapped couple said they were expecting to receive a demand for money. Mrs Chandler's brother, Stephen Collett, told BBC News: "The problem is they are not rich people. Most of the money is tied up with their yacht and other communications equipment which is on board the yacht."