A British couple on a round-the-world yachting trip have been kidnapped by pirates, Somali authorities were informed Tuesday.
The authorities said that Paul and Rachel Chandler were seized four days ago as they sailed in the Indian Ocean off the Seychelles. Two Royal Navy vessels are now in the area, conducting a search for the couple, officials confirmed.
The couple was heading for Tanzania from the Seychelles in their 38-ft yacht Lynn Rival when they sent a distress signal four days ago, with their posted coded message. Somali pirates who kidnapped them claimed responsibility on Tuesday ; and are believed to be holding the couple for ransom.
A spokesman for the pirates, calling himself Hassan, has been quoted here as saying that : “The British couple are in our hands now. We captured them as they were touring in the Indian Ocean !”
He said the two captives, who are in their fifties, were healthy and ransom demands would follow for their release.
The United Kingdom Foreign Office issued a statement Tuesday saying it was “extremely concerned” for the welfare of the couple, who sold their house in Kent in South Eastern England to fund their round-the-world adventure.
Michael Smith, a spokesman for the family, said the family was “keeping calm” and remaining in constant contact with the Falmouth Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre in Falmouth in Cornwall.
Smith, of the Rival Owners Association, added : “The latest they know is the message posted about 24 hours before they were due to depart from the Seychelles .”
The area is a notorious black spot for Somali pirates and US intelligence alerted that a boat came under attack nearby just 24 hours before.
Chandler, 58, and Mrs. Chandler, 55, who have been sailing around the Indian Ocean for much of the past two years, told friends and well-wishers they were bound for Tanzania, more than 500 miles away from the Seychelles.
“We’ll be at sea for eight to 12 days, maybe 14. We probably won’t have satellite phone coverage until we’re close to the African coast. So we may be out of touch for some time”, the couple said.
Source African Press Agency
loading...
