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Page last updated at 16:47 GMT, Saturday, 31 October 2009

Ransom demanded for yacht couple

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The Foreign Office insists that the government will not pay a ransom for the British couple who have been seized off the East African coast.

Somali pirates who have kidnapped a couple from Kent have issued a ransom demand of $7m (£4.3m) in a call to the BBC.

Paul and Rachel Chandler from Kent were taken hostage by gunmen in the Indian Ocean in the early hours of 23 October.

The caller to the BBC said: "If they do not harm us, we will not harm them."

He added: "We only need a little amount of $7m."

Caroline Hawley reports

SEE ALSO

Yacht couple being 'treated well'(00.37)
How to counter a pirate attack(01.58)
Pirate demands ransom for yacht couple(01.10)

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