New radio plea from captured sailor: 'Get us home by Christmas'

4:40 AM Mon 14 Dec 2009 GMT

'Chandlers under guard during interview with Channel 4 in November 2009' .

Paul Chandler, the British cruising sailor kidnapped by Somali pirates, has pleaded with the British Government in a new radio broadcast from their pirate hideout.

Mr Chandler and his wife Rachel were captured more than seven weeks ago as they attempted to sail from the Seychelles to Tanzania in a location where two yachts had been kidnapped already this year.

Britain's Sunday Times, through the services of a local man known only as 'Omar' managed to achieve a radio interview with Paul Chandler where he again made a plea for the release of he and his wife in time for Christmas.

However, in this latest radio broadcast the hostage sailor seemed to vent his despair at the lack of progress in negotiations, admitting, about his plea to be home for Christmas, 'We don't think there's much chance, seriously.'

He is heard to say: 'We have no knowledge of what is happening in Britain except that we have been told that the government has refused to become involved.

'As far as we are concerned it is not a straightforward piracy business, it is a plain criminal kidnapping and ... should be approached with a rather different approach than the government uses.

'When you have a criminal gang carrying out a kidnapping, [the government] should not be averse to negotiating with that gang and following it up with whatever means. I don't think the government should step back and say 'this is nothing to do with us'.

'I would like to say to the British government: get us out by Christmas, by whatever means.'

Pirates seized the Chandlers on October 23 as the couple sailed from the Seychelles in their 38ft yacht Lynn Rival towards Tanzania. They were later taken on land in Somalia and are being constantly moved around, living in vehicles, as their captors make various hostage demands, to avoid their subsequent kidnap by a fundamental Islamic group.

It has since emerged that a Royal Navy warship, the Wave Knight, manned by at least 10 Royal Marines and equipped with a helicopter were just 50 yards away but took no action as the pirates seized the couple. The Wave Knight then took onboard the drifting yacht and have since returned it to Britain.

The Ministry of Defence admitted that Bob Ainsworth, the defence secretary, had authorised the Royal Marines to intervene but it said it was the ship's commander who decided it was unsafe to attempt a rescue.

In November, the couple appeared in a video being held at gunpoint by their captors as they pleaded for the government to negotiate their release. They warned that the kidnappers were 'losing patience' and that they 'won't hesitate to take our lives'.

Britain's Foreign Office refuses to negotiate with hostage takers. A spokesman said: 'We call for the release of Paul and Rachel. Our efforts are ongoing to secure the safe release of the couple. We are in close touch with the family.'

Mr Chandler and his wife, a 55-year-old economist, retired about three years ago and had sailed across the Mediterranean and down the Red Sea before setting off from the Seychelles against the advice of local authorities and fellow cruising sailors.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has previously urged the pirates to release the couple, describing hostage-taking as 'unacceptable'.

by Medeshi/Sail-World Cruising

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New radio plea from captured sailor: 'Get us home by Christmas'

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