Somali pirates today said they had seized a yacht in the Indian Ocean with a British couple aboard and were taking the vessel to the Horn of Africa nation.
"The British couple are in our hands now. We captured them as they were touring in the Indian Ocean," a pirate called Hassan said. He said the two captives were healthy and ransom demands would follow.
A Seychelles government source said an emergency distress signal was picked up by the British coastguard after Paul and Rachel Chandler headed out into waters where pirate attacks are known to have taken place on October 22nd.
"We are currently in touch with the family in the UK and the Seychelles coastguard," Matthew Forbes, British High Commissioner to the Seychelles, said.
Last November, pirates hijacked a supertanker with $100 million worth of oil on board, and released it only after a $3 million ransom was paid.
In May, maritime security groups warned of a surge in the number of pirate "mother ships" operating in the Seychelles archipelago's expansive territorial waters.
The U.S. military said in August it would be deploying unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in the skies above the Seychelles to bolster anti-piracy efforts.
The kidnapped British couple were sailing to the east African country of Tanzania when they were kidnapped.
A final message on the couple's blog posted at dawn on Friday morning read: "Please ring Sarah". There has been no communication with the 38-foot yacht, Lynn Rival, since then.
A diplomatic source said the Seychelles coastguard had launched a search operation on Friday but there had been no confirmed sighting of the vessel.
Reuters