Chandlers: Rachel tells of attempted rape, Pirate threaten starvation

7:53 AM Fri 12 Feb 2010 GMT

'Cruising sailors Paul and Rachel Chandler in happier days' .

Britain's Daily Mail has claimed that kidnapped cruising sailor Rachel Chandler narrowly escaped rape by one of her guards because other guards arrived just in time, entering her tent and preventing the attack from proceeding.

They reported that in a brief, anguished phone call to a Somali journalist, 56-year-old Rachel Chandler described cowering in terror as one of the gang burst into her tent. As previously reported, her husband Paul, 59, was being kept in a different pirate hideout.

The grim revelation came as the pirates then threatened to starve the couple to death and accused the British Government and people of abandoning them because they are 'old'.

Mrs Chandler, kidnapped with her husband last October, reportedly spoke about her ordeal in a snatched mobile phone conversation with the Somali journalist via sources inside the pirates' camp.

He said: 'She was obviously very upset but did not have time to say much more before the phone was taken away'.
The Nairobi-based reporter, who has proved a reliable source of information about the Chandlers' plight, said: 'After I spoke to her, one of the other guards told me that this guy has now been transferred to another job and will not be allowed near Mrs Chandler again.

'But she is still afraid and said that all four of the pirates guarding her have been beating her, even though they objected to the sex attack.'

A 'spokesman' for the pirates also ramped up their propaganda campaign by launching an extraordinary attack on Britain's moral values.

The man said the Chandlers could be freed if everyone in Britain contributed 'just one dollar' towards a ransom - their demands have varied between ? 1.9million and ?4.4million since the kidnap. But this would never happen, the pirate said, because the British had no compassion for 'old' people and did not really want them back.

He also attacked the UK government for abandoning the couple and warned that the pirates would stop feeding them if the money was not paid soon.

by David Jones, Daily Mail/Sail-World Cruising

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Chandlers: Rachel tells of attempted rape, Pirate threaten starvation

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