hazards of yachting in pirate-infested waters / we're fine, held hostage by pirates, we're fine

Click map for larger.
Haradheere is a coastal town northeast of Mogadishu.

Thomson Reuters (UK newswire)
Friday 30 October 2009

Somali pirates ask $7,000,000
to free UK yachting couple

LONDON, Oct 30 (Reuters) -- Somali pirates have demanded a $7,000,000 ransom for a British couple captured on their yacht in the Indian Ocean, according to a phone call from a man purporting to be a member of the gang broadcast by the BBC on Friday.

Gunmen kidnapped Paul and Rachel Chandler, both in their 50s, last Friday while they sailed in international waters north of the Seychelles and took them to the Somali coast.

"We only need a little amount of $7,000,000," the BBC quoted the unnamed caller as saying. "If they do not harm us, we will not harm them."

Pirates have plagued busy shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia for several years. Foreign warships from 16 nations are patrolling the area to try and prevent hijacks, but the sea gangs are now hunting for ships far into the Indian Ocean.

A Foreign Office spokesman in London said the British government was aware of the reported ransom demand but could not confirm its authenticity.

In a tearful phone call to her brother Stephen Collett, Rachel Chandler said that they were coping with the pressure and their captors had given them food and water.

"Please don't worry about us, we are managing," she said, according to a recording of the conversation shown on Britain's ITV News. "Thank you for everything you are doing. We are safe."

A pirate called Hassan told Reuters by telephone from the coastal town of Haradheere earlier this week that the gang was holding the couple on a hijacked Singaporean container ship.

"After we understood the British navy might attack us, we took the hostages off the yacht into the Singaporean ship to bring them safely here," he said.

The couple's niece Leah Mickleborough told the BBC that the family was aware of the ransom demand report and that they would "look into it".

The pirate gangs -- some made up of former fisherman angered by the presence of foreign fishing fleets in Somali waters -- and their backers within Somalia and abroad have made tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

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this.is.kent.uk/tunbridge wells
Thursday 29 October 2009

Paul Chandler: "I was asleep and men with guns came aboard" -- full transcript of his phonecall to the UK.

ITV News UK Editor Angus Walker had the following mobile telephone conversation with Tunbridge Wells hostage Paul Chandler:

Angus Walker: I have a message from Stephen [Collett]. Stephen says everyone here is fine we are all thinking of you and just hope you are both well -- can't wait to speak to you and see you.

Paul Chandler: Well that's awfully nice (laughs).

AW: Paul can you describe how you are being held?

PC: We are at the moment in the captain's cabin of the container ship Kota Wajah -- container ship.

AW: What kind of ship?

PC: A container ship.

AW: Have you been rescued or have you been kidnapped?

PC: We are hostage together with this ship.

AW: Can you describe how you were taken hostage?

PC: Yes we were ... miles from the ... to the Seychelles

AW: And what happened?

PC: Came alongside -- I was off watch -- I was asleep and men with guns came aboard -- it was on Friday last week at 0230 local time

AW: What happened then?

PC: Then we were forced to sail er ... sail on motor towards Somalia ...

AW: How far are you off the Somali coast at the moment do you think?

PC: One mile -- we are at anchor.

AW: Do you know what the nearest town is?

PC: Where is the nearest town? Hang on a minute ... now what the nearest town is ... hang on a minute. Hello did you get that?

AW: Didn't get name of town. Could you repeat?

PC: Ubdu -- due east from Mogadishu -- about 200 miles.

AW: Have your hostage takers demanded any ransom?

PC: Not officially -- they kept asking for money and took everything of value on the boat.

AW: Do you know what nationality of ship you are being held on ?

PC: Yes -- a container ship -- name is KOTA WAJAH -- a Singapore ship.

AW: How are you being treated?

Then contact was lost.

Paul Chandler's voice was confirmed by his brother in law Stephen Collett and ITV News passed all information to the family and Foreign Office.

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