Posts Tagged ‘pirates’

Relief mixed with sadness as Paul Chandler told of death of father after pirate release

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

The release of Paul Chandler after more than a year in captivity at the hands of Somali pirates was mixed with sadness as he learnt of the death of his father for the first time.

During his time as a hostage Mr Chandler had repeatedly voiced fears for his father, Alfred, who reached the age of 99 in June but did not live to see his son released.

On an internet blog on which they charted their adventures travelling in their yacht the Lynn Rival, they described spending much of the time at Mr Chandler’s home which they described as a “lovely place to relax by the sea.”
In one of the last updates before their disappearance while sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania, they posted a photograph of the sea view from Mr Chandler’s home labelled as “a reminder of Dartmouth”.

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Danes free ship, Somali Government appeals for release of sailors

Monday, February 8th, 2010

As Danish Special Forces stormed a hijacked ship and released the crew, the Somali Government has appealed to pirates to free the British crew of a yacht now held for more than three months.

Somali Labour Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir, who is from Suleiman sub-clan of the Habar-gidir, and reported to be a relative of the clan who have kidnapped Paul and Rachel Chandler, said yesterday: ‘We urge the pirates to release the old British couple unconditionally.’

He made the demand during a news conference at the Presidential palace.

‘We also urge the British government and all Somalis to participate in releasing the couple by whatever the means. They are innocent Britons in the hands of criminals,’ he added. However, he refused to elucidate further on what he meant by the reference to the British Government.

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