A couple kidnapped by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean issued another desperate plea for help today, begging the British government to help secure their release.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, on 23 October.

In a video filmed by the French news agency AFP, Paul Chandler begged the British government to help: “I just want to say please to my government get me and my wife out of here.

“We are innocent, we have done no wrong. We have no money and we can’t pay a ransom.

“We just need the government to help, anyone who can help us out of here. Day after day and this is 98 days of solitary confinement, no exercise.

“I don’t know what to do. Will somebody please help? The government or somebody else.”

A doctor was seen examining retired quantity surveyor Chandler, 60, who is reportedly in a better state than his wife.

The couple were separated from each other by their captors and are being held on land.

In the video Rachel Chandler, 56, said she was feeling lonely without her husband. “I need to be with Paul. We are husband and wife. We have always been together and we look after one another.

“I am 56 and my husband is 60 – we are not young people.

“These people are treating us so cruelly.”

As the doctor spoke to her, she kept her hands clenched and added: “It’s very hard to keep going.”

The medic found Mrs Chandler in poor mental health, calling out for her husband, AFP reported.

“She is sick, she is very anxious, she suffers from insomnia,” Dr Mohamed Helmi Hangul told the agency.

“She’s very confused, she’s always asking about her husband – ‘Where’s my husband, where’s my husband?’ – and she seems completely disorientated.”

Last week, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, insisted the government would not get involved in any ransom payments to secure the Chandlers’ release.

He said he could not stop private individuals from pursuing the possibility of a ransom deal, but that the government had always made it clear that making concessions to hostage-takers was not in Britain’s interests.

It came after the Chandlers said they feared they could be killed within days and pleaded for help in a “desperate situation”. The pirates have said that if the UK government is unwilling to pay for their return, their friends should raise the money.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are monitoring the situation very closely and are doing everything we can to help secure a release.

“We remain in regular contact with the family and are providing support.

“We call for the safe and swift release of Paul and Rachel.”

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Guardian

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