Kidnapped British couple "bearing up"
Paul and Rachel Chandler were taken last week
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Friday, 30, Oct 2009 06:00
By Richard James.
A British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates have told their family they are "bearing up" despite their ordeal.
Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 58 and 55, from Kent, had been sailing in the Seychelles when they went missing last week.
It has since emerged the pair were kidnapped by pirates and they remain hostages a week later.
Today they spoke to Ms Chandler's brother Stephen Collett, 58, via satellite phone and broadcast on ITV news.
Asked if she was coping, Ms Chandler said: "Yes, yes, I'm bearing up. Thank you for everything you're doing.
"Please don't worry about us, we're managing. They tell us that we're safe and we shouldn't worry and that if we want anything they will provide it in terms of food and water and everything like that you know, they are very hospitable people so don't worry we're not, they're not... physically we're fine, physically we're healthy."
Mr Chandler then told his brother-in-law they were had been looked after "so far".
"I can only say we are well, and that's as far as I can say," he said.
At the end of the conversation Mr Collett made a direct appeal to the pirates, saying: "My sister and her husband are blameless tourists and if you release them it would show your compassionate nature and it would be positive to everyone. Thank you."
The couple are currently believed to being held on a ship anchored off the eastern coast of Somalia.
Despite numerous reports their captors are close to making a ransom demand for their release, nothing has so far been confirmed.
Mr Chandler spoke to journalists yesterday and described how he and his wife had been kidnapped.
Speaking to ITV news by phone, he said: "I was asleep and 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 02:30am [local time]."
Gordon Brown and foreign secretary David Miliband have both condemned the actions of the pirates and called for the Chandlers' immediate release.