Couple kidnapped by pirates issue plea for help

A BRITISH couple kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean issued another desperate plea for help yesterday.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in their yacht Lynn Rival on October 23.

In a video filmed by the French news agency AFP, Chandler begged the British government to help secure the couple’s release.

He said: “I just want to say please to my government get me and my wife out of here. We are innocent, we have done no wrong. We have no money and we can’t pay a ransom.

“Day after day and this is 98 days of solitary confinement, no exercise. I don’t know what to do. Will somebody please help?”

A doctor was seen examining retired quantity surveyor Chandler, 60, who is reportedly in a better state than his wife.

The medic found Mrs Chandler, 56, in poor mental health, calling out for her husband, AFP reported.

“She is sick, she is very anxious, she suffers from insomnia,” Dr Mohamed Helmi Hangul told the agency.

“She’s very confused, she’s always asking about her husband and she seems completely disorientated.”

The couple were separated from each other by their captors and are being held on land.

Last week, Foreign Secretary David Miliband insisted the government would not get involved in any ransom payments to secure the Chandlers’ release.

It came after the couple said they feared they could be killed within days and pleaded for help in a “desperate situation”.

The pirates have said that if the British government is unwilling to pay for their return, then their friends should raise the money.

A gaunt Mrs Chandler said, “These people are treating us so cruelly. It’s very hard to keep going.”