Kidnapped Britons fear Somali pirates will kill them

LONDON — A British couple being held hostage by Somali pirates said in an interview broadcast Friday that they fear they will be killed or handed to a terrorist group if a ransom is not paid soon.

Paul and Rachel Chandler were kidnapped Oct. 22 by pirates who seized their 38-foot yacht — the Lynn Rival.

In an interview with Britain's Channel 4 news program, the Chandlers are seen surrounded by armed men, some of whom have their guns pointed directly at the retired couple.

"I have no doubt that they will not hesitate to kill us in a week or so from now," Paul Chandler, 59, said in the interview, filmed by a Channel 4 crew on Wednesday.

Britain's ITN — which produces Channel 4 News — said the Chandlers and their relatives had agreed that the footage, the first of the couple since their capture, could be aired.

Pirates have demanded $7 million to release the Chandlers, but Britain's government insists it won't pay ransoms to kidnappers.

"We are under threat, and we are told that we will not be fed and given water, so we are very concerned about the future," Rachel Chandler, 55, said in the video.

"Our captors are very impatient now that nobody has been in touch to enter into negotiations. So we ask the government, and the people of Britain and our family, to do whatever they can to enter into negotiations with these people to buy back our lives," she said.

"We are also feeling very much under threat now that these people themselves won't hesitate to take our lives," she said.

Britain's Foreign Office said Friday in a statement that it was aware of the video and said the footage would likely "be distressing for the family."

But the ministry said government policy on ransom payments was clear.

"We do not make substantive concessions to hostage takers, including the payment of ransoms. These are innocent tourists, we seek the immediate release of Paul and Rachel," the Foreign Office said.

The Chandlers, married for 28 years, took early retirement about three years ago, sailing around the world. In an entry on a Web site in June they wrote that they were headed for Tanzania, after initially delaying a voyage there "because of the Somali pirate problem."

In the video footage, Paul Chandler insisted the couple were in reasonable health and unharmed.

"Mentally, we are under great stress and threatened," he said.

"Our kidnappers are losing patience. They are concerned that there has been no response at all to their demands for money."