Hopes raised for cruising sailors kidnapped by Somali pirates.

by Sail-World Cruising. on 6 Mar 2010 A senior Somali official says a British cruising sailors Paul and Rachel Chandler snatched from their yacht by pirates more than four months ago will be released soon. Both have medical problems, with Paul Chandler reported to be in danger of losing his sight from a disease contracted while in captivity, and Rachel covered in sores from scabies.

Mohammed Omar Hussein, the editor of Somaliweyn Media Centre, a radio station based in the Somali capital Mogadishu, said his colleague Hassan Ibrahim Noor visited Mrs Chandler a week ago and reported what he had seen back to the station.Mr Hussein said: ‘He told us Rachel had scratchings on her arms and legs which looked like scabies. She was scratching a lot. She was being kept in a house and looked depressed. She kept on staring at the ground, sometimes looked up, and then stared back at the ground.’

Journalists are barred from seeing the couple, but Mr Noor was allowed to see Mrs Chandler as he was a native of Harardhere – the coastal region where the Chandlers are being kept – and was also from the same clan as the pirates.

Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Mohamed Omar Dalha says Somali communities inside and outside the chaos-wracked country have been working to negotiate the 'unconditional release' of Paul and Rachel Chandler. Dalha said Friday he was hopeful they would be released within two weeks.

The pair was kidnapped in October by pirates who seized their 38-foot yacht the Lynn Rival as they sailed toward Tanzania. They had been warned repeatedly by Seychelles authorities and by fellow cruising sailors that they should not make the voyage, but set out anyway. The pirates originally demanded $7 million to release the Chandlers, then later reduced the ransom, but Britain's government refuses to pay ransoms to kidnappers.

The Chandlers are among about 130 sailors held hostage in Somalia, but are the only cruising sailors being held. The others are merchant seamen, whose companies normally pay the huge ransom to secure their release.

This hopeful report comes as international military officials are signalling a new offensive mindset in their fight against piracy in the seas around Somalia.

Four recent shootouts with pirates showed that high-seas attacks are intensifying with the end of the monsoon season.
Nearly half the 47 ships hijacked off Somalia last year were taken in March and April — the most dangerous months of the year for ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.