Africa News
Somali pirates release British couple after one year of captivity
Nov 14, 2010, 10:09 GMT
Paul Chandler (right) and his wife Rachel flank Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed during a press conference in Mogadishu, Somalia 14 November 2010 after they were released by Somali pirates. EPA/A. Wehliya
Mogadishu - Somali pirates early Sunday released a British couple held for more than a year after a ransom payment was made, officials said.
The pirates handed Paul and Rachel Chandler over to officials from the self-proclaimed administration of Himan and Heeb in the central Somalian town of Adaado.
'Both have been released this morning and they are in safe condition,' Mohamed Aden Tiicey, the head of Himan and Heeb, told the German Press Agency dpa.
An official in Adaado told dpa that a ransom of about 1 million dollars had been paid. The money was reportedly provided by private donors and the Somali government.
Tiicey said the couple would be headed to the Kenyan capital Nairobi later in the day. Britain's Press Association reported that both were tired, but otherwise in good shape.
The pair had been abducted on October 23, 2009 in the Indian Ocean, as they were sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania.
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