BREAKING: March 9th 2010
Paul and Rachel Chandler were suffering from severe anxiety brought on by their separation and captivity in war-ravaged Somalia, Dr. Abdi Mohamed Elmi Hangul told The Associated Press during an interview at Medina Hospital on Sunday. The two were seized from their yacht, the Lynn Rival, in October and have been held apart for most of their captivity. Hangul said the pirates had phoned him on Sunday and said the couple had been temporarily reunited.
"The two hostages were in different locations but I advised the guys to reunite the couple, because both of them were worrying about their separation but they now told me that the two people have reunited already," he said.
Hangul treated the two hostages last month at the invitation of their kidnappers, in the camps where they were being held along the Somali coastline.
"The hostages are suffering from diseases ... Paul was suffering just pain and coughs and (Rachel) Chandler was suffering from mental disorders, especially restlessness, palpitations and she was very anxious, because she was worrying about the separation between her and her husband," he said.
"A new case of eye infection emerged later, (the pirates) informed me by telephone that Paul was taking eye drops, Paul told me that he finished the eye drops," he said. He has not seen the Chandlers since.
A Somali politician last week expressed hope that pressure from Somalis in the diaspora could lead to the two being freed without a ransom being paid. But pirates have rarely, if ever, freed a vessel and crew without a payment. The Chandlers' captors have repeatedly said they will not free the two without a ransom — money the family says it does not have. The British government says it does not pay ransoms to kidnappers.
"I advised the pirates, you have to release these people, they are old, they don't have anything," said Hangul. "I always say that to them but unfortunately they still insist the only option is ransom money."
The Chandlers are highest-profile of more than 130 sailors held captive on the Somali coast. The couple's plight has garnered more attention than that of hostages from developing countries like India and the Philippines, who make up the bulk of the captives. Furthermore, ship owners can leave them to languish for months before engaging in serious negotiations and families are often not kept informed of progress.
Experts say the pirate problem is a symptom of Somalia's lawlessness on land. It has not had a functioning government for a generation and the current administration is too focused on fighting an Islamist insurgency to go after the well-armed and well-paid pirates.
The multimillion dollar ransoms are one of the few ways to make money in the impoverished country. Attacks about doubled between 2008-2009 and are becoming increasingly violent.
[N.B.: He, however, stated during his visit accompanied by an AFP journalist that he just was able to examine and had not administered any medication for any treatment.]
March 6th 2010
With the latest captures and
releases now still at least 7 seized foreign vessels (9 sea-related hostage
cases since yacht SY LYNN RIVAL was abandoned and taken by the British Navy)
with a total of not less than 148 crew members (incl. 5 Filipinos on
board of two vessels: two on board the Thai Union 3 and three on board the MV
St. James Park; as well as the British sailing couple) plus at least 9 crew
of the lorries held for an exchange with imprisoned pirates, are
accounted for. The cases are monitored on our actual case-list, while
several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and
have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information,
are still being followed too. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks,
averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had been recorded for 2008 with 49
fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases for Somalia and the mistaken sinking
of one sea-jacked fishing vessel and killing of her crew by the Indian naval
force. For 2009 the account closed with 228 incidences (incl. averted or
abandoned attacks) with 68 vessels seized for different reasons on the
Somali/Yemeni captor side as well as at least TWELVE wrongful attacks (incl. one
friendly fire incident) on the side of the naval forces.
For 2010 the recorded account stands at 25 attacks resulting in 7 sea-jackings.
The naval alliances had since August 2008 and until January 2010 apprehended 666
suspected pirates, detained and kept or transferred for prosecution 367, killed
47 and wounded 22 Somalis. (New independent update see:
http://bruxelles2.over-blog.com/pages/_Bilan_antipiraterie_Atalanta_CTF_Otan_Russie_Exclusif-1169128.html).
Not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack
count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (although not
in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this
area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that
they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail - like the S/Y Serenity, MV
Indian Ocean Explorer.Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: GoA:
ORANGE / IO: RED (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced
risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely,
Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Piracy incidents usually degrade during the
monsoon season and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon. Starting from mid
February until early April every year an increase in piracy cases can be
expected.
For further details and regional information see the Somali Marine and Coastal
Monitor at www.australia.to
http://www.ukho.gov.uk/Media/News/Pages/AntiPiracyChart.aspx
"I'm obviously very tormented and very, very lonely and worried."
Those are the heartbreaking words of Rachel Chandler, the woman kidnapped by Somali pirates and separated from her husband Paul.
The couple from Tunbridge Wells were seized more than four months ago while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania.
In a telephone interview with a Somali television station shown on last night's
ITV News At Ten, Mrs Chandler said she'd spoken to her husband a few days ago, but they weren't allowed to see each other.
She said she was grateful to the Somali community for helping to secure 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.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said the Government is working hard to secure their release.
Paul and Rachel Chandler, 60 and 56, were kidnapped four months ago while sailing in the Indian Ocean.
The couple, who are being held apart in captivity, recently spent their 29th wedding anniversary apart.
Ali Gedow, a spokesman for the pirates, said the group would not allow the couple to spend time together.
Anniversary torment
Speaking through an interpreter, he told BBC Radio Kent: "For security purposes and reasons we will not be able to put them together.
"No further comment on that. We cannot do it in terms of security."
The Chandlers, of Tunbridge Wells, were captured while sailing towards Tanzania on 23 October.
Their captors have threatened to kill the couple if their demands for $7m (£4.4m) are not met, but the Foreign Office has said it does not pay ransoms or give substantial concessions to pirates.
In a recent television interview, the couple spoke of their torment at being separated as their anniversary approached.
Paul Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and his wife Rachel have been detained for more than four months after they were captured while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania.
In a telephone interview with a Somali television station shown on ITV News At Ten, Mrs Chandler, who has recently appeared gaunt in pictures, said: "I'm obviously very tormented and very, very lonely and worried."
She added: "I spoke to him six, seven or eight days ago but they don't let us, we're not together, we've not seen one another for five weeks now but I was allowed to speak to him."
During the interview, recorded approximately two weeks ago, 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.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband earlier said the Government was "working very hard" and nobody would be satisfied until the couple returned home safely.
Officials are in contact with the couple's family.
Being kept apart is tore, say British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates by
The British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates have told of the 'torture' they feel at being forbidden from seeing each other.
Paul and Rachel Chandler have spent five weeks apart, speaking to each other only sporadically.
In a phone call their captors allowed them with a Somali TV channel, both spoke of the toll being apart is taking on their abilities to cope.
Mr Chandler said that being forbidden from seeing his wife was 'torture'. In the call, the 60-year-old added: 'We have never in our married life been apart this long.
'We have our anniversary next Sunday, we will have been married 29 years.'
'His wife Rachel said: 'I spoke to him [Paul] six, seven or eight days ago but they don't let us ... we're not together.
'We've not seen one another for five weeks now but I was allowed to speak to him.'
The 56-year-old added she was 'very tormented and very, very lonely and worried'.
The recordings - believed to have been made a fortnight ago - were broadcast by ITV News last night.
Mr Chandler, who is understood to be in desperate need of medication for an eye infection which could leave him blind, did not mention his condition.
His wife added the couple were 'grateful' the British Somali community were trying to help them.
'It's very nice to know that the Somali community and the UK are concerned about me,' she said. Somali community leaders in Britain have tried to persuade the hostage-takers to let the Chandlers, from Tunbridge Wells, go free.
A series of high-profile Somalis have also spoken on TV channels in the country to press the case.
Concerns have grown in recent weeks about the Chandlers' health.
The last footage of them showed they had lost dramatic amounts of weight and were gaunt.
Last week it was revealed that Mr Chandler was suffering from the bacterial infection trachoma.
The disease makes the eyelids turn inwards, so that the eyelashes cause scratching on the surface of the eye. This causes unbearable pain and eventually loss of sight.
The infection is spread by flies or human contact in areas with poor sanitation and no clean water.
Last night the Foreign Office insisted it was doing 'everything it could' to free the couple.
'We are monitoring the situation closely and doing everything we can to help secure a release,' a spokesman said.
'We have raised Paul and Rachel's situation with key Somali contacts from the outset and the diaspora community has shown considerable goodwill. We repeat our call for their safe and swift release.'
Mr and Mrs Chandler were kidnapped in October while sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania in their 38ft yacht, the Lynn Rival, and taken hundreds of miles to Somalia.
The British Government was embarrassed as it emerged armed Royal Navy personnel had watched as they were taken from their yacht to a pirate launch and not been given orders to intervene and save them.
The pirates had threatened to kill the couple if they did not receive a £4.5million ransom.
Although they have now cut the demand to £1.3million, there are fears the couple could be sold on to militant Islamist groups in the war-torn and effectively ungoverned country.
They say it’s like being kept in solitary confinement – and that they have never been apart for so long in 29 years of marriage.
Rachel and Paul Chandler, who were snatched from their yacht off the east coast of Africa in October as they crossed the Indian Ocean, said they had not seen each other for five weeks. Mr Chandler, 60, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said: “We have never in our married life been apart this long.”
Frail-looking Rachel Chandler, 56, said: “I’m obviously very tormented and very, very lonely and worried.” The couple spoke in TV interviews, conducted separately, that were given to a Somalian TV channel.
A doctor who visited the Chandlers said they were both being held in basic tents with poor food and water in temperatures hitting 39C.
The couple celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary apart and in captivity on Valentine’s Day.
The pirates have demanded a £1.9million ransom.
*To read my Yachting Monthly article on our attack go to Attacked - a lot of similarities ---
In
The
Gulf of Aden
I have read and heard about a lot of ‘safe’ tactics to avoid pirate
attacks, a lot of which I feel is overly optimistic and inaccurate. The
following is based on my own experience earlier this year.
We were attacked and robbed by 3 pirate boats in the Gulf of Aden on
Sunday March 2nd 2003.
Our position was 13*31N 48*24E
It is interesting to note that during the last five years all the attacks
on yachts heading for the Red Sea from Oman have been in a corridor between 47*E
& and 49*E. The distance off shore Yemen does not appear
to make any difference.
We were attacked by 3 old ships lifeboats the sides of which were raised
by blue plastic sheeting. The boats were crammed, with what appeared to be very
frightened Somalia people.
This description is similar to the description given by yachts attacked
in previous years - sometimes only 2 boats.
The ‘crews/pirates’ of these life boats appeared to be Arabs not
Africans. All the evidence is that
these 3 boats were in the business of ‘people smuggling’ from Somalia to
Yemen. Interestingly all the
attacks in the previous 5 years (except one on a Thursday) happened at a weekend
- Saturday or Sunday. The aborted
attack on the fleet of five boats following us happened one week later -
Saturday - The next aborted attack this year was the following weekend.
There was absolutely no evidence of the pirate boats having VHF and they
certainly did not have HF radios. We
were attacked at dawn and I am certain they were following our navigation lights
- both Josephine and Bambola were exhibiting masthead tri-colour lights.
Although the pirates fired rounds at both boats (hitting a shroud on
Josephine) they were not interested in harming us physically.
Certainly we were threatened with loaded guns but their interest was -
Cash (US $’s), Radio equipment - carefully removed, binoculars (they asked
where they were) and wrist watches. They
did attempt to remove the solar panels but they were too well bolted on.
They were not interested in other things - no demands for credit cards or
passports or cameras. They were in
a hurry to get in, grab the swag and get out.
CONCLUSIONS
The attack was opportunistic.
I am certain these boats were heading for the Yemen out of Somalia and
happened to see our navigation lights before dawn and stalked us. (I know many
yachts practiced radio silence or coded waypoints. I do not believe these ‘pirates’ have the ability,
direction finding equipment or indeed VHF radios to track radio transmissions.)
Traveling in a group will not deter them.
There were 6 yachts in the group that was attacked the following weekend.
The pirates gave chase. If they had not been able to outrun the pirates
and one boat had been boarded by armed men what would the crews of the other
yachts have done? When gunmen are
firing Kalashnikovs - AK47s and machine pistols towards you there is not much
point in resistance. The next attack was also on a group of yachts and the
pirates only gave up when an American aircraft buzzed them in response to a
Mayday.
The distance off shore Yemen is irrelevant - Do not go near the Somalia
coast - a merchant ship was robbed, with loss of life, around the same time near
to this coast.
It could be worth considering sailing without navigation lights whilst in
the danger zone.
It could be worth avoiding transiting the danger zone at weekends.
Personally I would not carry guns to defend myself with.
I would have to be a very good shot to avoid hitting the innocent
passengers in the pirate boats. I also wonder if the pirates would run or just
return fire that would outgun most yachts.
I think it worth asking coalition forces for escort.
There is normally a coalition warship in Oman. In the end the Americans
stationed a warship near the danger area and had aircraft regularly over flying
the yachts as they came through. This was a successful tactic although why they
were not prepared to ‘arrest’ the pirates on the high seas, outside any ones
territorial waters, is beyond me.
Only 1% of the yachts heading for the Red Sea are actually boarded and
robbed in any one season - I just hated being that statistic.
Some sort of escort by coalition forces
through the 'safe zone/corridor' seems to be the only really
answer if you are determined to use this route.
Tuesday, 23 September 2003
Michael Briant
SY Bambola Quatre (36ft center cockpit Moody)
La
Rochelle
If you want to read the story of the attack on Bambola as published in YACHTING MONTHLY then go to Attacked
|
has a lot of stories and information about my circumnavigation and personal 'pirate' experience There is more information HERE |
http://www.nga.mil/portal/site/maritime/
is the link to the US agency reporting on piracy world wide
A useful link for cruisers to further pirate information is http://www.onpassage.com/Emergency_Medical/Pirate_attacks.htm
Treasure Isle is about pirates it was the show I directed for the BBC little knowing......
