FILE: Journalist contacts British hostages held by pirates

Record ID: 589317

  • Title: FILE: Journalist contacts British hostages held by pirates
  • Date: 30th October 2009
  • Summary: AT SEA OFF EYL, SOMALIA (FILE) (REUTERS) PIRATES ON SPEEDBOAT COMING INTO SHORE PIRATES ON SPEEDBOAT VARIOUS OF BOAT WITH PIRATES APPROACHING
  • Embargoed: 14th November 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Reuters ID: LVAD4HQJ90VMXTB7YBJX3O95X8M6
  • Story Text: A British television reporter has contacted a British man held hostage by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Thursday (October 29).
    Paul Chandler said he and his wife, Rachel, were snatched six days ago by Somali pirates when they were on their yacht near the Seychelles.
    The couple, both in their 50s, are believed to have left the island on their 38-foot yacht and were sailing towards Tanzania when they were captured on Oct. 23.
    A Somali pirate who spoke to Reuters, said the couple had been moved to a Singaporean container ship, the Kota Wajar, which was seized by Somali gunmen earlier this month along with its 21 crew.
    Earlier on Thursday, the European naval force said a Spanish helicopter had spotted the yacht. A spokesman for the force said the boat was empty and it had no information about the couple.
    Britain's ITV news said it had managed to speak to Paul Chandler aboard the container ship by telephone and that he said no ransom had yet been demanded.
    "We were in the water, 60 miles from Victoria in the Seychelles. Three boats came alongside, I was off watch, I was asleep and men with guns came aboard and then we were forced to sail six days (inaudible) towards Somalia," he said.
    "They kept asking for money and took everything of value on the boat, they haven't asked formally for money yet, but that's what they want, we know," he added.
    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 now hunt for ships far into the Indian Ocean, as well as the strategic shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia through the Gulf of Aden.
    The 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.
    While hundreds of sailors have been held captive by the Somali pirates over the past few years, most have been released unharmed -- once a ransom has been paid.
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