Pirates may free kidnapped couple for €111k ransom

KIDNAPPED Britons Paul and Rachel Chandler might be freed for much less than the seven million-dollar (€4.75m) ransom demand, a hostage negotiator said yesterday.

Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, said he was working with Somali elders to help free the Chandlers.

The Somali pirates had been persuaded that the couple were not rich and might release them for £100,000 (about €111,000), he said.