Pirates lower ransom for captured British yacht couple

Nov 1, 2009, 11:32 GMT

London/Nairobi - Somali pirates holding an abducted British yachting couple have lowered their ransom demand for the pair's release, it was reported Sunday.

Having originally told the BBC by telephone on Saturday that Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 59 and 55, would only be released after 7 million dollars had been handed over, the group have now changed their demand.

Instead they have told the BBC they will accept 110,000 euros (163,000 dollars).

The pirates also warned military powers in the area of the Somali coast and in the Indian Ocean not to attack or try to rescue the couple.

'If they do nothing to us, we will do nothing to them,' the group told the BBC.

The Chandlers were seized from their boat, the Lynn Rival, on October 23 by armed men, and the yacht was later found abandoned in international waters.

   On Saturday, a spokesman for the British government rejected the demands, saying, 'The government isn't going to make any substantive concessions to hostage-takers, and that includes the payment of ransom.'

   The pirate said the money was partly in compensation for the damage caused by NATO-led anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast.

   'They have destroyed a lot of equipment belonging to the poor local fishermen,' he said.

   Somali Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke said in London that his government was attempting to make contact with the pirates, to explain to them that the couple did not have that amount of money.

   Piracy is rife off the Horn of Africa nation, which has not had an effective central government since 1991.

   Young men take to the seas in search of multimillion-dollar ransoms despite the presence of over a dozen international warships, which were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden last year to combat a rise in piracy.

   The pirates have expanded their operations further out into the Indian Ocean to avoid the patrols.

   In the last few weeks, pirates have seized a Chinese cargo ship with 25 crew members, a Spanish fishing boat with 36 crew onboard and a Panamian cargo vessel carrying 26 seamen.