Hopes raised for hostage couple held by Somali pirates

Relatives of the British couple held hostage by Somali pirates welcomed reports today that they could soon be released.

Paul Chandler and his wife Rachel, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in October last year.

Somali deputy parliamentary speaker Mohamed Omar Dalha said today he was hopeful they would be freed within two weeks.

He said that communities inside and outside the war-ravaged country have been working to negotiate their unconditional release.

Stephen Collett - Mrs Chandler's brother - refused to be drawn on any details of the hoped-for release but said he was "pleased" by the news.

He has been in contact with the pirates via local broadcasters and the Foreign Office, who have been working towards their release.

The Chandlers are among about 130 sailors held hostage in Somalia.

In a telephone interview with a Somali television station, Mrs Chandler, who has recently appeared gaunt in pictures, said: "I'm obviously very tormented and very, very lonely and worried."

Mr Chandler described their forced partition as "torture".

He said: "I don't understand this. This is torture and we have never in our married life been apart this long and we have our anniversary next Sunday. We will have been married 29 years."

After being told that the Somali community in the UK is doing what it can to help aid their release, Mrs Chandler added: "It's very nice to know that the Somali community and the UK are concerned about me, I am very grateful."

The British Government has refused to pay a ransom for the couple and called for their immediate release.

The Somali pirates have previously demanded a "seven million dollars" ransom for their safe release.

In a phone call translated by the BBC, one of the pirates said: "If they do not harm us, we will not harm them - we only need a little amount of seven million dollars."

Mr Chandler, 59, and his wife, 55, were captured when armed men boarded their yacht as they slept.

The Chandlers' relatives have met Somali prime minister Omar Sharmark, who told them his government would do everything it could to "see a peaceful solution".

It has since emerged that the crew of a Royal Navy vessel was forced to watch the Chandlers being kidnapped by pirates but military officials have insisted that the Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment tanker Wave Knight, carrying 75 merchant seamen and 25 Royal Navy sailors, could not have acted without endangering the lives of the couple.

The Chandlers sailed into the pirate-infested waters despite warnings about the risks.