Pirates threaten to kill British hostages

HARARDHERE, Somalia, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Somali pirates holding a British couple hostage threatened to shoot and burn them to death if Britain attempted any rescue, one of the pirates said.

"We warn them (against) any attack on us -- this is a good advice for them," a pirate who called himself Hassan told Britain's Sky News.

"Otherwise (the pirates) will burn their two people's bones," Hassan said. "If warships surround us, we shall point our guns at the British tourists. They are old and we will take care of them -- that is if we are not attacked."

The pirates moved Paul Chandler, 58, and his wife Rachel, 55, from their hijacked 38-foot yacht Lynn Rival to a captured container ship and are believed to have taken them to the Somali port of Harardhere, a pirate haven, The Times of London reported.

The couple's yacht was recovered by a Royal Navy ship in international waters Wednesday, the Britain's defense ministry said Thursday.

The Chandlers had been sailing to Tanzania from the archipelago nation of Seychelles in the Indian Ocean when they were hijacked Friday.

Paul Chandler told Britain's ITV News by telephone from the container ship no ransom had yet been demanded.

"They kept asking for money and took everything of value on the boat," Chandler said. "They haven't asked formally for money yet. That's what they want, we know."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, calling piracy "unacceptable," appealed to the pirates to free the couple.

"We call on those people who have taken the hostages to release them as soon as possible," he told reporters at a European Union meeting in Brussels. "They should abide by international law and the piracy should be brought to an end."