Pirates' threat to kill Britons and 'burn their bones'

Pirates holding Paul and Rachel Chandler today threatened to kill them and "burn their bones" if any rescue attempt was made.

The couple, from Tunbridge Wells, were caught in a tense stand-off in the Indian Ocean as EU naval forces tracked a yacht thought to belong to the couple 200 miles off the Somali coast.

Mr Chandler, 58, a retired engineer, and his wife, 55, were believed to be on board - prisoners of at least six men who stormed their yacht Lynn Rival last Friday as they sailed to Tanzania.

Somali pirate leader Mohamed Hussein said in broken English: "We are telling Britain that any bullet of our friends on the yacht will be big cries for the families of the two old people we hold....any attack on us, this is good advice...otherwise they will burn their two people's bones."

Another pirate leader urged the family to "pay what we ask" although no amount was mentioned.

In a direct plea to the kidnappers, Mr Chandler's sister Jill Marshment said: "If I was to give a message to the pirates, I'd say you've got the wrong people.

"They are not a wealthy couple. They just wanted to take early retirement, to take a boat and see more of the world."

Mrs Marshment said the pirates' threats were "distressing" but what was even more upsetting was the "not knowing" and she criticised the Foreign Office over a lack of information.

Pirates are also holding 36 fishermen on the Spanish-owned ship Alakrana taken four weeks ago. Their leader, Shamun Indhobur, linked the fishermen's fate to the Chandlers, saying: "The men on the Alakrana and the men who snatched the British yacht are from the same group. We have the Spanish ship and this new yacht and we warn the naval forces they must avoid any type of military action because otherwise, if one is attacked, we will punish those from the other vessel."

Indhobur also told the Chandlers' relatives: "We ask their families to contact us and pay what we ask for."

Speaking to Spanish news agency Efe via satellite phone, Indhobur said his men had snatched the couple.

Indhobur told a Somali-based reporter he was calling from Haradheere, the port where the pirates were believed to be taking the couple.

Speaking from her home in Gloucestershire, Mrs Marshment, said the couple would have known about the risk from pirates beforehand.

She added: "I just can't believe it's happening, but it does happen in life, I'm afraid. It's like a bad dream."

Rescue teams searching for the Chandlers are today monitoring a yacht. An officer with the European Union Naval Force Somalia said it had located the vessel east of Haradheere.

Commander John Harbour said one of its helicopters spotted a yacht yesterday towing a skiff, the type of small rowing boat used by pirates, towards the coast.

He said it was too dark to read the vessel's name but its location suggested it could be the Chandlers' yacht, adding: "The helicopter went up to look at some skiff activity in the area.

"The light was just fading. As he was heading across the horizon he saw the yacht. He closed in as far as he could and saw the yacht towing a small skiff, then he had to return to ship.

"We have no confirmation it is Lynn Rival. But we are treating the sighting very seriously. It was the first yacht we've seen.

"It's in the area where we've been looking for this yacht. We have two ships in the area and a helicopter and they are continuing their investigation." The sighting was made at about 3pm British time yesterday.

Commander Harbour said today: "We are not involved in any rescue effort, we are merely monitoring the situation. As far as we are concerned, there have been no threats made to us so we will follow the boat but we are not going in to rescue them."

He said there were 172 hostages on seven ships around the coast of Somalia and their priority was stopping pirates taking other vessels.

"Two people on a yacht is one thing, but when you consider how many hostages there are at the moment, it's impossible to put all our resources into one rescue effort."

Mr Chandler and his wife, an economist, took early retirement and sold their house to fund their dream trip. They have no children.

Their niece Leah Mickleborough said the family had feared "the worst might have happened", adding: "When you hear of things like this you possibly expect the worst might have happened but you always hope that it hasn't.

"You never believe it's going to be one of those things that happens to your family."

Stephen Collett, Mrs Chandler's brother, said the couple had no money to hand over to any captors. "My sister and brother-in-law are certainly not a wealthy couple," he said.

"I think everything they've got is invested in their boat, so if they have been captured then the pirates have got the boat, which is as much as they're going to find really."