NAIROBI, Kenya – A British couple kidnapped off their private yacht by Somali pirates more than a year ago were set free today, ending one of the most drawn-out and dramatic hostage situations since the rash of piracy began off East Africa.
Paul and Rachel Chandler looked relaxed and smiled through a small ceremony held in the Somali town of Adado after their morning release. They arrived in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi by nightfall, landing at the military wing of the main international airport. Rachel Chandler told The Associated Press by phone: “We are happy to be alive.”
Pirates boarded the Chandler’s 38-foot yacht the night of October 23, 2009, while sailing from the island nation of Seychelles. The couple, married for almost three decades, took early retirement about four years ago and were spending six-month spells at sea.
Despite an international flotilla of warships and aircraft, pirates continue to prowl the Indian Ocean off Somalia seemingly at will, pouncing on pleasure craft, fishing vessels and huge cargo ships.
They were held hostage for 388 days.
Efforts to free the couple by the Somali diaspora, the weak Mogadishu-based government and Britain had failed until now. The couple on Sunday flew from Adado to Mogadishu and after a short stop continued on to Kenya’s capital.
“We are happy to be alive, happy to be here, desperate to see our family, and so happy to be amongst decent, everyday people, Somalis, people from anywhere in the world who are not criminals, because we’ve been a year with criminals and that’s not a very nice thing to be doing,” Rachel Chandler said at a news conference in Mogadishu.
The pirates set the couple free at about 4 a.m., said the leader of the government administration in Adado, Mohamed Aden. When they arrived in Adado they were taken to a safe house, took a shower and changed clothes. They then took about a 90-minute nap, Aden said. When they awoke they had what he called a “British” breakfast of fried eggs. (AP)
