Bartamaha (Nairobi):- A British man kidnapped with his wife by Somali pirates is suffering from a severe eye infection that could leave him blind.
Paul Chandler is understood to have contracted the infectious disease trachoma, which is prevalent in East African countries such as Somalia. The condition could lead to him becoming blind within weeks.
It is feared that he may have had the disease for months and it is now at an advanced stage, causing severe pain in the eyes so that he is unable to keep them open. He is in desperate need of medication.
Mr Chandler, 60, and his wife Rachel, 56, were kidnapped in October while sailing in their 38ft yacht the Lynn Rival from the Seychelles to Tanzania.
Mrs Chandler’s health is also said to have deteriorated. Last month, video of the couple showed that she had become very thin. She is said to be very distressed because of cruel treatment by the pirates and because she is being kept apart from her husband.
The couple, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, were filmed by Somali freelance photographer Mohamed Dahir when he visited them with Dr Mohamed Helmi Hangul. It is believed they are being held near Harardhere, a coastal town 180 miles north of capital Mogadishu.
Mr Dahir said: ‘It took us 14 days to get to the Chandlers because of all the fighting going on. We saw Paul. Then we had to drive for half an hour in the bush to get to where Rachel was being kept.’
He said the pirates told him they were keeping the couple in different locations in case of a sudden rescue attempt by British security forces.
Last week, the pirates contacted Dr Hangul in Mogadishu, asking him to supply medicine for Mr Chandler’s eyes. Mr Dahir said: ‘The pirates told the doctor that they tried to get the medicine for Paul but could not get hold of it. They are asking the doctor to deliver it to them.
‘Rachel looked really thin and depressed. She said I was the only nice Somali she had met since they were captured.
‘She did not say she was beaten – but kept on saying she was being badly treated by the pirates. She just looked so lost.’
Trachoma – the world’s biggest cause of preventable blindness – is a bacterial infection of the eye, usually spread by flies or human contact in areas with poor sanitation and no clean water.
It affects around 41million people around the world.
It makes the eyelids turn inwards, so that the eyelashes cause scratching on the surface of the eye, resulting in pain and eventually blindness.
Robert MacLaren, professor of ophthalmology at Oxford University, said: ‘What Mr Chandler needs is an antibiotic ointment to treat trachoma. If left untreated, it could lead to permanent corneal damage.’
In Mr Dahir’s video footage a distressed Mr Chandler said: ‘I just want to say please to my Government, get me and my wife out of here. We are innocent we have done nothing wrong.’
Last week, it was reported that the pirates have reduced their ransom demand from £4.5million to £1.3million.
But last night the Foreign Office said: ‘We don’t make substantive concessions with hostage-takers and we don’t offer ransoms to pirates.’
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By ABUL TAHER
Source: dailymail
