Pirates 'may accept smaller ransom'

Sun Nov 1 2009 07:20:08

A hostage negotiator claims kidnapped Britons Paul and Rachel Chandler may be freed for much less than the Somali pirates' initial $7 million (£4.2m) ransom demand.

Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said he was working with Somali elders to help free the couple.

He said the pirates had been persuaded that the couple were not rich and might now release them for £100,000.

In a phone call on Friday night, one of the pirates was reported as saying: "If they do not harm us, we will not harm them - we only need a little amount of seven million dollars."

The Foreign Office responded by saying that the Government would not make any "substantive concessions to hostage-takers, and that includes the payment of ransom".

Mr Chandler, 59, and his wife, 55, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured in the early hours of October 23 when armed men boarded their yacht as they sailed from the Seychelles towards Tanzania.

Leah Mickleborough, the couple's niece, said the family had been unaware of the ransom request before they saw it on the television news.

The caller is reported to have said the amount would cover damage caused by Nato.

He said: "Nato operations have had a lot of negative impact here, they have destroyed a lot of equipment belonging to the poor local fishermen.

"They arrest fishermen and destroy their equipment, in defiance of our local administrations."

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